Trail of Blood
by xOnexWingedxClonex
Summary: Tifa's always openely loved Cloud, but Cloud's always secretly loved Sephiroth. So when he decides to break off their marriage, nobody takes it too well. Well, except Cid and Vincent... SxC, postAC. Spoiler warning.
1. Prologue

The little boy sat and stared at the paper in his hand. He slowly rubbed the cheap print, feeling the rough tooth under the oils of his fingers. Careful not to jerk it up too quickly as to crease it, he lifted it slowly.

He stood up then, little feet pitter-pattering on the ground as he walked over to his bed. Handing the newspaper clipping to his mother's outstretched hand, he climbed on top and into his sheets. After all, if he fell, his boo-boo would heal in a few days. He couldn't ever flatten out paper to be as perfect from its original state.

"Can you read this one to me?" he asked as he fidgeted into a comfortable position and pulled the blankets over his shoulders.

"But I've read this one to you every night for a month," she argued. To her, the logic of children was never understood. It hadn't really ever been in her agenda to have any; she really had a strong aversion to motherhood.

"But mommy, I like this story," he said, a little disappointment in his voice. He had never been one to deal well with rejection. Even if she never said no, that slightly annoyed tone to her voice was far too familiar for a yes.

"I've read it so many times, I think you could read it yourself..."

"I wouldn't know the big words," he replied. She was always the better storyteller, anyway. There was no emotion to her words, and he could always picture it exactly how he wanted without the interference of another's interpretation, even if it was his own consciousness.

"Fine," she said, a hint of frustrated sigh in her final statement. She never saw the glow in her son's eyes as he smiled.

"The elite ShinRa military group SOLDIER has admitted its youngest recruit into the ranks," she began. "Sephiroth, at age fourteen, has become a SOLDIER first class. While the majority of recruits cannot even sign up for training until that age, Sephiroth has transcended above the age limit.

'His potential is... amazing,' says the President Shinra of Sephiroth. 'He is actually much stronger and more agile than some of his peers. It will be a marvelous thing to witness Sephiroth progress further.'

President Shinra is not the only one waiting for the results of the future. Dr. Hojo, who is allegedly Sephiroth's tutor and physician, has this to say of the boy: 'He is an interesting subject indeed to study. His strength is incredible; he is a highly intellectual boy, and a quickly-growing celebrity among the barracks.'

Is this beginner's luck? To put it simply: no. Sephiroth has been training for SOLDIER since the age of nine. Though ShinRa will not divulge the reason as to how they discovered his talents, it is obvious that, even then, he was of extreme power. For five long years, the boy has trained under the most watchful eyes, and he has indeed risen beyond their expectations.

However, Sephiroth is a mystery to us all. With silvery hair and unnaturally bright eyes the same shade of mako energy, his parentage is an enigma. Other unknown things about him are where he was born, his birthday, and how he got to be so perfect for such a position. **Midgar Weekly** was able to get an audience with the new star of ShinRa.

Midgar Weekly: So, what inspired you to be a SOLDIER?

Sephiroth: I don't really remember anything before I was involved with SOLDIER.

MW: That's certainly interesting. Do you ever wonder about your past?

S: No, not at all. My life at present is pretty good. Why would I want to dote upon the past? I'd lose my momentum and my focus.

MW: Well, you definitely have a lot of drive. What inspires you?

S: My superiors inspire me. Someday, I want to be a General, so I have to study and train until I am fit for the position. My work drives me forward.

MW: Do you ever think about relaxing and enjoying your childhood?

S: Childhood is just something to prepare us for the real world. I can rest when my goals are finally realized. Right now, I'm not worried about taking a break-- I haven't really even started.

MW: Do you think you'll regret that later on, when you'll never be a child again?

S: If I ever do, I will stop thinking about it immediately because it would make me weak. Since that would cause me to retrogress, I would never allow it to happen.

MW: What do you do in your free time, then?

S: I study. Right now, I'm working towards a mastery of materia.

MW: Really? What kind?

S: Healing materia has always interested me.

MW: Don't you think that's a little ironic?

S: Not at all. I believe in saving lives. Even though most people have an outlook on SOLDIERs as military, and therefore, murderers, people don't know the truth. The fact is, without us being the enforcement for order, there would be no such thing as justice.

MW: Do you ever get intimidated at all?

S: No. I think more often than not, my peers are scared of me.

MW: What would happen if you didn't rise to the ranks of General?

S: I am aware of the fact that I may never make General. Anyway, there are certain qualities for that position that I currently lack.

MW: Such as?

S: I am always slightly hesitant in my moves. I'm afraid I'll injure my opponent more than I mean to.

MW: You certainly have a lot of confidence in your strength.

S: Yes, I do.

MW: A lot of rumors have been going around that you gave a SOLDIER first a few broken bones during your entrance exams, but you left without a scratch. Is this true?

S: I wouldn't say that. I walked away with a bruise on my arm.

MW: Do you have any non-military plans for the future like getting married and having kids?

S: No, I haven't thought about that.

MW: Do you have any closing remarks for boys who want to follow in your footsteps?

S: If you work hard towards a goal, anything is possible.

In conclusion, it is not completely out of line to say that this boy, a precocious and determined teenager, will be a promising young fighter for SOLDIER."

The little boy was still listening intently, as if there was more to the end of that story. He knew there wasn't, not in that clipping, at least. He knew, however, that his mother would deny him another reading. Besides, it was already far past his bedtime.

"All right," she said. "I've read you your story, now you have to go to sleep." He tried not to comment on the fact that her thumb was slightly pressing against the paper too hard, and it was wrinkling in her hand. He closed his eyes and nodded an agreement instead. "Good boy," she replied.

She walked to his table with the paper in her hand and slid it back into the little folder of whence it came. The two green pockets were filled with little newspaper tidbits from the last few years. She closed it back up, noting that the binding was starting to fall apart, and placed it back on the shelf with the boy's neglected storybooks.

Sighing, she looked back at her son, having made peace years ago that some truth was more enthralling to him than fiction, and that it was perfectly normal. His beyond-bright yellow hair was perfectly normal. How it defied all laws of gravity was completely normal. And his eyes... how they glowed if she leaned in too closely... that was completely normal, too.

She flicked off his light, and began to close his door, trying to make the least creaking sounds as she could. "Good night," she whispered. "And sweet dreams..."

She never waited for a reply.


	2. Chapter 01

It had been five long years since the fight. The first two had been spent in utter denial. A better part of the third in anger, and the rest... the rest was the epitome of bitter desolation.

He wouldn't consider himself alone. He had friends, though their visits were often shorter and further apart. They had all found places in their lives that they were happy with. Even Vincent had moved on from his past. The only one who hadn't found something to do with themselves was him.

Friends were never what he wanted. He had grown up used to not having them to rely on. It wasn't until after he joined SOLDIER that he found a place to fit in, and even then, it had been hard to adjust.

Still, he followed through with his dream. He had a goal, and no matter what it took, no matter how long, he would attain it. It had been his mantra for years. "If you work hard towards a goal, anything is possible." He still remembered the fine black print, the creases his mother made, and how wonderful it felt when all the words began to make perfect sense, and he didn't have to pause and sound them all out.

His dream was never truly fulfilled. Sure, he had gotten to the place, and he had done the training... but he wasn't accepted into the program. He settled for second best. It was such an insult to his hopes, his wishes... but he stayed. There was always more training, always room for improvement. And always, always, there was inspiration.

Things always went horribly wrong for him.

He tried to put the past behind him, like he had grown up to learn to do, but it was hard. The past wouldn't put him behind in return. It clung to him like a starved child in rags. It was his weakness not to turn it away; he would never turn it away, even if the child had been the devil in disguise. Actually, if it had, he would more probably than not have struck a deal with him. After all, there was no use left for his soul.

The sword was still propped up in his bedroom, next to his nightstand. He hadn't touched it for a good five years, not even to polish. Six pieces made its whole. They were easy to snap together and easier to break apart to form his greatest move.

He wished now that he hadn't called checkmate so soon.

His phone rang. After the final fight, after the party, his friends had got him a new one. It hadn't been his fault that he dropped it in the lake. That fault belonged entirely to Kadaj, whose entire purpose it seemed had been to make his life a living hell. He had never been very brotherly.

"Hello?" he said as he answered it. It had been so long since he had gotten a call, and even then, it was because it had been important. Well, as important as things got now that everyone was at peace. It had been Yuffie, calling about her birthday, wondering if he could come. More importantly, she wanted to know if he could buy her new materia. Anyway, it definitely hadn't been a year, and she couldn't have been calling about the same thing.

"Cloud," said a voice. It had aged, become wiser, sharper. It was still far too recognizable to him. "I want you to come home..." It seemed much more broken since the last time he heard it. "The children want you to come home. It would mean so much to me... if you could pretend, even for a second, that we were a family."

"Tifa... we've been through this," he replied. His voice was not frustrated; it was not annoyed. He had learned too much from his mother to use that tone of voice-- with anybody. It was soft and sympathetic, and a little bit guilty, just like always. "I can't come home, I'm not ready," he said.

"Even if you don't love me... even if you never loved me, why couldn't you do it for Marlene? For Denzel?"

"They're too old, and they know me too well. I can't... you know I can't do it; don't make me. Please... as a last testament to how much you tell me you love me--"

"--Don't say that! I love you; you know I love you. We're so unhappy without you. All of us do. Even Barret's starting to come around and admit he's no leader like you were. Like you are."

"I gave up that title long ago."

She became frantic. "Then how come you took it up again five years ago? Our lives aren't something you can step in and out of just like that... You can't put us on your shelf and order us around when it's convenient for you! --"

"If you want me to argue with you to keep the conversation going longer, we've tired that out. It's not going to work anymore. I'm sorry."

"If you were truly sorry, you'd tell me you love me and you'd come home to see us."

"I just... can't, Tifa, you know I can't. I can't come home..."

"Is it another woman? Listen, Cloud, our marriage hasn't ever been a stable one. You've always been more distant, and I admit, I haven't been as kind as you were to me in the past, but Cloud, you can't hold that against me. You agreed to let that go with your vows, and please, please just come back, Cloud, come back..."

"You don't understand that I can't... I just, I need some time."

"I've given you the better part of three years, Cloud. Do you just not love me anymore?"

"I... I don't know. I don't really understand what's going on in my head. I haven't been able to for half my life. You don't understand what it feels like to be living inside my head, Tifa. I don't know if I love you because I don't know if I'm capable of that feeling."

"Yes, you are. You're human."

"Sephiroth was human."

"Sephiroth was crazy... he wasn't right in the mind."

"But he was still human."

"If you cut him, he didn't bleed. He was more of an animated corpse than a human... At least, by the time we got to him, he was."

"He was just strong of will."

"Cloud, he was a freak!"

"It wasn't his fault. It was Hojo's fault. You know that."

"But he had a choice... he could have..."

"Tifa, if Zack hadn't saved me from the labs, I would have been by his side."

That quieted her for a few seconds. A few seconds of peace, of quiet... and it was so beautiful to him. However, she decided to break it, as if noise would make their conversation less awkward. "Cloud..." her voice faltered, and he just then realized why the silence had lasted so long. The short breaths, the gasping. The unmistakable sounds of sobbing carried from one end to the other.

"Tifa, please don't cry..."

"I can't believe," she said between breaths, "that this is the longest conversation we've had in months, and we spent it taking about the worst enemy we've ever had."

"Maybe that's all we have left to talk about, Tifa! Anyway, this isn't all about you, because this is always about you! Why can it never be about me? I know you're depressed and everything, but I've got my life to pick up again, and I need to come around in my own time. I need space, Tifa; I need freedom. And maybe Sephiroth wasn't a villain like you're making him out to be. Maybe I was the villain..." His voice trailed off at the end of his little rant.

"Cloud..."

"I can't. I'm sorry, Tifa. I'll talk to you later." With that, he hung up. After all, he had said too much already.

He sat back on his bed and cast the cell phone unceremoniously aside. His thoughts subsided a little, and he relaxed. He couldn't think too hard, wouldn't think too hard on this, any of it. He turned to the side and closed his eyes. He could always find sweet solace in the beauty of sleep. The most he could hope for was dreamless sleep, but he never got what he wanted.

So he tossed and turned for the better part of another half hour. The sun was beginning to set into late afternoon outside, but he didn't care. He never really paid attention to the time anymore. Each day just slipped by, each of them unnoticed and unimportant.

He got up after a fruitless rest and walked sluggishly into his kitchen. It was a small one, and it was dusty. He never really had a need for a large house. The small Strife residence was just big enough for one person. He found that was also an excuse for not ever having guests stay the night.

Filling his kettle up with hot water, he set it on the stove and waited. It wasn't like he had anything else to do but wait for his water to boil. There were no appointments to make, no one to catch up with, nothing on television, and no psychopaths to deal with.

After a minute, he got out a tea bag and put it in a mug. Ginger oolong, just like always. It was bitter once it hit the tongue, but left a sweet aftertaste, almost like powdered sugar. It was how he always imagined his life would be during and after the battle.

As the kettle screamed, he turned his attention back to reality. He poured in the steaming water until his teabag was drowning in it. The hot moisture was soothing, and so was the heat of the mug as he took it up in his cold hands.

The cold of November never bit harder than that year, not even when he had lived in Nibelheim. He and his cup of tea stalked over to his sofa, where he set it down on the wooden table to pick up a magazine. He had flipped through the pages so many times that he memorized what was where, for how long, and by whom it was written. He knew the stories like the back of his hand. The only reason he read them was because they never changed. Consistency was never his best quality.

He put it back down after his tea had cooled reasonably and lifted it to his lips. The water slid down his throat quickly; before long, the cup was drained. Even when he had time to savor the taste, he never did. He could've never gotten used to it, anyway.

The remote was in his hand as the screen flicked on. Click, click, click. There were shows about romance, shows about great adventures, shows about daily life, and shows about absolutely nothing. None of them could hold his attention for very long.

He finally found a re-run of an old show that had been played when he was young. Then, the screen only flashed colors once every few minutes, the picture was awful, and the sound quality was horrible. He hated the show at first because it was so pointless. The only reason he ever watched it and pretended to like it was so that he could have something to talk about with the kids at his school.

They picked on him and beat him up anyway.

Nonetheless, it brought back old memories. Even if they weren't good, they were of a happier time. It was nice to know that he still remembered the answers to some of the questions. It was even nicer to know that most of them had become common sense to him, even though before they seemed impossible to answer and even more impossible to explain.

The man with the pompous wig and the bombastic voice spoke. "For the final question: Agatha, what is the name of the legendary sword wielded by the Great General Se--" click. It hadn't worked. "Masamune" had etched itself in the front of his mind before the host got to finish his sentence. He could have won fifty thousand gil. Instead, he just retrogressed back into the melancholy truth.

The compensation prize was never enough for him. He took his mug in his hand and stood up again. Life had become so boring, so monotonous. There was nothing left to do, and so, he just kept living on, more a slightly humanoid robot than anything. He never felt so close to Cait Sith.

He placed it in the sink and sighed. The leaves outside drifted by in multitudes of colors. Autumn was always his favorite season. He liked how it was cold, but still the trees tried to mask it with warm colors, clutching onto the final signs of summer.

He opened his kitchen window and breathed in the fresh air. It seemed he missed the rain; he could smell the damp leaves. They seemed oddly refreshing to him, even though all the other children thought he was weird. It seemed to them that everything he had done was weird, so it hadn't worried him much at the time. Besides, their insults became so trite.

It was a good day to go outside, especially since the sun was sinking into the horizon. Sunsets were so romantic, even if he was alone. It gave him time to think. Actually, his entire lifestyle gave him time to think. He sat down in a chair at his small kitchen table and, resting his head in his hands, stared at the cinnabar sun fading from the sanguine sky.

He wished he had someone to share it with. He had always wished that he could share it with someone, but he ignored it. His subconscious never listened to him. Maybe, he thought, he should go and apologize to Tifa. He already knew she wasn't whom he was searching for.

Who, then? But he already knew the answer to that, as well. A pair of the brightest mako-colored eyes was laughing in his imagination. No, replied to himself. No. The laugh got louder as he covered his ears and shut his eyes. He couldn't do it. He couldn't let it go.

It was painful. The whole of it was so painful. No, no, no. He had always been dead. Always. The living couldn't haunt, and he had done plenty of haunting. It was no use obsessing, doting, or loving people who didn't exist any longer. Or ever.

He realized that he would rather have been living with the geostigma. At least that pain was only temporary, and brought back things that, although painful, were not trivial. Yes, Aeris had been his teammate. Yes, Zack had been his best friend. But no, no, no. Never did Sephiroth ever laugh like that.

His laughs were always cynical; they were always mocking. They were cold, biting, caustic, sarcastic. His sense of humor was always either twisted or nonexistent. He had found Zack immature, but Aeris's death was of the utmost enjoyment to him. If the children at his school could never accept Cloud, they never could've accepted Sephiroth.

Yet, if anyone had been embraced by his triumphs, it had been Sephiroth. He had been the hero of the Wutai war, the greatest general, living or dead. Even in his insanity, he had followers. Yet, even having saved the world twice over... no one even knew Cloud's name.

So maybe he was jealous. Yeah, he was jealous. Everything he had wanted to be, everything... Sephiroth had gotten there first and he had done it better. He would go down in the history books, not Cloud. Yeah, that was it.

He wished his head would stop telling him it was a lie. But he knew, he knew. Ever since he had picked up that very first newspaper and told his mother to read it to him, he knew. He was meant to love no one else. Even against his will, even twenty-five years later, he loved him.

He pounded his fist against the table in anger, as if that would help. It never did. He held his fist until the table groaned and threatened to break under the force. He held it until his knuckles turned a bone white.

Still loved him. Even though he didn't truly know if he loved, anyway. Even if he thought he wasn't sure what that feeling was, he was sure it was what he felt for Sephiroth. But he couldn't explain it, not to himself, and definitely not to Tifa. Oh, poor Tifa. She would never know; she would never have to know.

He was every bit as much of a puppet as he was made out to be. Even now, he had to use all his will to fight his master's every beck and call. Was it the bond from the saving? After all, Sephiroth had technically saved his life a multitude of times. That deserved some thanks.

That wasn't it. That couldn't be it. He hadn't been there to save him at four, at ten, at thirteen. Yet, he had loved him then just as much as he had loved him now. But he hadn't known it then; not even the annoying part of his brain that he wished he could remove.

After all that he'd done. After all that he'd caused Cloud to suffer through, the blond still held onto the memories strongly. Sephiroth refused to stay quietly in his mind like he had requested. It had been a simple plea. Commiseration was not one of Sephiroth's qualities.

And, oh god. Even for all the people he had killed... it was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. For not only all the times Sephiroth had saved him in battle, but also for all the times Cloud himself had lifted a sword to strike the man down.

So did that mean they were even? No, no, no. Cloud would have gladly given his life over and over again, and not joined in the fights against Sephiroth, if only he could still see his mother's smiling face. After all, he too, was an orphan.

It was love. It was pure, unadulterated love. Those black, gloved hands reached out to him, beckoning him. I beseech of you, they said, just to forgive us. After all, you wanted to be forgiven, too.

But that was different; it was different. That had been pardonable, that had been something not of his fault, of his doing. No, no, no, no, no! I won't fall for that again, Sephiroth; _I won't fall for it again._

If his mind could have spat, it would have.

The laughter was overbearingly loud. Those eyes burned like a vehement green flame, those hands like weekly mako injections. Closing his eyes made it worse; it blocked out everything else around him to focus just on Sephiroth.

The eyes burned him, the hands choked him, the locks of silver hair suffocated him under their beautiful long strands. No, no, no. He could smell the leather that encased that statuesque body, the steel that cut through so much skin, the blood that flowed from mortal wounds. He could hear the words of affection and endearment, spoken with naturally flowing words and a voice of dark, melting chocolate. He felt the heat between them, the bared chest against his own. Their heartbeats melded. _You're human._ The warmest lips he ever tasted were bittersweet.

_You're beautiful._ Those lips left his own, trailing down his throat softly. They whispered his name, over and over. Someone did know. Someone did recognize him, and it was someone who mattered.

_Yes, yes, yes. So beautiful, oh so beautiful._ Those silent thoughts carried through the nonexistent wind. They broke any ice that dared be left between them. _Don't leave me; don't you dare leave me._

_Then don't wake up._ The answer was so simple. He would never have to wake up again. He could dream forever, have this forever. And he wouldn't be guilty, because it wasn't treason to think.

There was a smile on the older man's lips, just like always. He still had a rather sick sense of humor. Yet, now, it was more appreciated than he could ever know. Cloud hadn't liked staring at Sephiroth for long while they were battling, whether it was for the future of the earth or for practice. He would get easily distracted and also, he'd want to mimic that damn smile.

He was just then aware of the hands that wrapped themselves around his waist. They pulled him closer, begging, pleading. He didn't want this to end, either. Ever. It felt so real, so much like he was still touching him, still in the room, still alive. _No. Stay. For me. Stay for me._

Sephiroth never bothered to even try and sound like it wasn't a command. But maybe that was just something Cloud loved... Sephiroth was always so sure of himself. And when he was sane, he was always right. Cloud always doubted himself, even if he knew it was the right answer, he'd have to go back and double-check, triple-check.

_Did you miss me?_ It was a rhetorical question, he knew. He nodded anyway, burying his face into Sephiroth's chest as his arms wrapped around. _Me too._ Tighter, he held on tighter and tighter still.

_I just need you. Just you, always. _He was still a pathetic little boy. Clingy, needy, desperate. He was all those things, and it maddened him how weak they rendered him, how weak Sephiroth rendered him.

_It feels good to be loved by someone who understands you, doesn't it? You don't even have to tell them, and they just know._ He placed his lips on the top of Cloud's head, chocobo yellow spikes tickling his nose and chin.

There was no need for a reply.

_I'm sorry._ He knew. He had known from the start of his dream. After all, this imaginary Sephiroth would never, ever break his heart. Not like the real one... not like...

_I have to wake up._

The look on Sephiroth's face was all too familiar. Suddenly, the room that had a faint glow of sunset and cheesy soap opera faltered. The stage was set a dark, murky black. A glance back at Sephiroth and he could see the dark red blood trickling down that alabaster forehead.

_No, no, no! I take it back; I take it all back. Please, please, please._

He snapped awake. It took a few moments to realize he was cold again, and that the sky outside was a dark navy. A few leaves had flown in through the window and decorated his counter, his sink, and the floor surrounding.

He got up to close the window, but paused to smell the air. Clean, crisp, autumnal. But it was cold, too cold. He shut them, flicked the lock, and drew the curtains over them. He then kicked the leaves into a pile and decided to worry about them tomorrow.

Walking through his living room, he decided to go take a shower. He hadn't really the need for one. He wasn't usually up to taking two showers a day anyway. But it was just so cold all of a sudden.

He turned on the hot water and stripped down. Even though he hadn't exercised in what seemed to be forever, the mako injections kept it so that his muscles never atrophied. They were all intact and as useful as ever.

When he stepped inside, the water was already scalding hot. He didn't care. Most often than not, his skin was red and raw by the end of his showers anyway. Burns never stayed for long on his body anyway.

He scrubbed as if there was a year's worth of dirt on his body, as if he was still in SOLDIER and had been forced to do night duty after a round on the obstacle course. Actually, while he was in SOLDIER, he hadn't cared too much for personal hygiene. Everyone and everything else was caked in dirt, anyway.

Even though it only took ten minutes, it seemed like much longer. When he stepped out, he wiped away the steam on his mirror. His hair stood up even when wet. He then realized how much he needed a haircut. If he gelled all of it downwards, he bet he could put them in pigtails without a "blonde wig." He shook his head and grabbed a towel out of the closet. That wasn't exactly a moment in his life that he would like to have relived.

His hair was fluffy and damp and looked rather like a carpet that had been mauled with paper towels trying to get a stain out before it set. He thought it was rather becoming, actually. Or maybe he was just trying to convince himself it was so he would be able to do one less thing in the morning. He ran a brush through it anyway.

Walking to his room, he opened the closet door to put on his blue satin pajamas. Looking in his mirror, he realized that Tifa was right. He held a striking resemblance to a chocobo. Moments later, he looked like a chocobo wearing pajamas and bunny slippers.

They were a gift from Yuffie, and besides, they were extremely comfortable. But he would never admit that to anyone, and especially not Yuffie. He walked with them sliding a bit across his hardwood floor to his living room and sat, again, on his couch.

The binding for the magazine was beginning to fall apart. The only magazines that held the condition of his were old ones from libraries that women liked to check out to muse on and gawk over how awful fashion had been two weeks prior.

Just then, as he was halfway through an editorial about the new, improved PHS, the phone rang. He slammed the magazine down and fell on all fours, groping around for where he had placed it last. After two impatient rings, he found it had slid under his entertainment set.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me again."

"Oh. Tifa, listen, about what I said earlier..."

"It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry too. And I'm sorry I'm calling you so late, but I just... really needed to talk to a friend."

"All right. And it's only nine, anyway."

She seemed hurt that he hadn't commented on when she said "a friend." He didn't catch the pain in the two-second silence that followed his reply. She thought he was being dense, like always.

"It's just been so long since we caught up... I want to feel that familiarity again. You know, like when we were younger and used to talk for hours over the phone over absolutely nothing at all, because we saw each other all day?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, now we've got more things to talk about. We might take all night. Or at least, I might. You never really talked; you always just listened."

"I'm good at that."

"Yeah, I know you are. It's great, really, sometimes. I always like it when people listen to me. It makes me think that they care about me. Though sometimes over the phone you don't know when someone's listening to you, but you always listen."

"Tifa, you're beating around the bush."

"Oh, right! Sorry. Anyway, so, Marlene's twelve now. And Denzel's thirteen. They're growing up so fast... And I'm teaching them martial arts now. It's kind of weird, being called a sensei. I always thought that was such an important term, you know? I looked up to Zangan so much. Being called that is kind of an honor to me. And they're fast learners."

"You're a good teacher."

"Oh, you're just saying that."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you've never seen me teach, so how would you know? I know you're my friend and all, but stop lying to me please! I just... want to know the truth from you from now on. The whole truth. And no dissimulation please."

"Fine. But I'm expecting the same from you."

"I've never hid anything from you, Cloud. I hope you know that."

"I know, it's just sometimes..."

"What, sometimes it looks like I don't trust you? So you have to get all defensive and shoot it back at me? Is that it? I don't believe you, so you try and make me feel guilty about it? Why do you always do that, Cloud? It's like you can do no wrong or--"

"Stop. I didn't agree to talk to argue again."

"But it's true, isn't it, Cloud? Isn't that what you want? The truth? You're always right, Cloud. You always have to be right, because it would be too devastating for you to realize that sometimes, you're not. And sometimes, you're such a jerk!"

"I wasn't the one who requested that I tell the entire truth, Tifa. And I realize I'm not always right. I never pretended that I was always right. There were so many times when I was wrong, and I wanted to give up. But I didn't, Tifa. Do you know how much it hurt me to continue the journey after Aeris's death? I wanted to give up, because I hadn't done anything, and it felt like I caused it..."

"I'm sorry, I just..."

"...Need time to sort things out, like I do."

"Thank you for understanding."

"Tifa?" He hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, or even suggesting it, because he really wasn't ready to move on. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like me to come visit tomorrow?" There. It was out on the table. There was no chance to revoke it. He was going to pretend like he was okay, and then maybe, just maybe that would be enough for her to leave him alone for another few months.

"Yes!" He could almost see the look on her face. "Yes, yes! We'll have your old room ready and I'll cook something really good and, and--! Oh, Cloud, it'll be wonderful!"

He was starting to regret it already. "All right then, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

With that, he hung up the phone and placed it on his coffee table so as to avoid not being able to find it later. It was only eight fifteen. He sighed, and picked up his magazine again. He might as well have enjoyed what would be the last time with his routine before going to Tifa's tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 02

It was a beautiful morning when Cloud awoke. He was warm under his chocobo-down comforter, and squinted only slightly at the risen sun. He debated getting up. Then he thought of what Tifa would say if he was late... and was slightly worried until he realized they hadn't set a time. Then he was extremely worried.

He shot out of bed, assuming that she'd probably expect him at around ten if he vaguely said "tomorrow." He looked at the clock and realized it was already half past nine. He realized then how fortunate it was that he had taken a shower only the night before.

Pulling on his pants, he stumbled into the bathroom, nearly tripping over his pant leg, and grabbed his toothbrush. He stuck it in his mouth as he threaded his arms through his sweater and zipped it up. Swish, swish, spit.

He put the Cloudy Wolf on, though there was no longer a need for it or the arm cover. He wore both out of habit anyway. He slipped on his well-worn boots as he stuck his toothbrush back in the holder, tugging on his laces right before he grabbed the bottle of mouthwash.

Gurgle, burn, spit. His hand, meanwhile, reached for the brush as he ran it through chunks of hair. He didn't stop for the tangle in the back of his head, and ended up with a clump of yellow hair in his comb. It looked like a dust ball and the back of his head throbbed a little.

Nevertheless, he slipped his gloves on and grabbed a candy bar out of his cabinet. He realized that needed to buy gifts before he got there, and shoved some gil in his pocket. He then grabbed his keys and his phone, and, chocolate bar hanging out of his mouth, left his house.

He ran to the nearest store he could find that wasn't selling cigarettes, materia, or weapons. Toy Store. He had never been in it, but now that he was, he realized how whimsical children were. He grabbed the biggest teddy bear he could find, a remote-control car, and a couple lollipops off the display. "How much?" he said from behind the bear.

"One hundred fifty seven gil," said the clerk absentmindedly.

Balancing the items in one hand, he reached in for a few hundred gil while looking at the clock behind the counter. The clerk started moving lackadaisically towards the cash register. "You know what? Keep the change. I'm in a hurry anyway."

"Thank you kindly, sir."

"Yeah, yeah." He turned and headed out of the store, and looked around a little before he gave up and ran into a jewelry store, picked out the most expensive pair of earrings, and forked over a handful of gold coins. There was no time to think.

He wished he brought his bike as he ran back to his house, looking absolutely ridiculous as his upper half was a smiling, furry animal. He then wished he hadn't bought something so big. The remote control car fit in the compartment where a sword had once gone, and the earrings and candy in a pocket. The bear, however, he sat in front of him as he got on the bike.

Fenrir was beautiful. Sleek and smooth, jet black like night it was. As much as he pretended to dislike the darkness, it was much a part of his life. That was inevitable, at least. But he knew he was no cookie-cut hero. He was more likely to have cookie-cut wrists. He wasn't strong, he wasn't dashing, he wasn't chivalrous.

Anyway, Fenrir was in memory of Zack. The Buster Blade was a remnant of Zack's. For the first few years, the clothes had been, too. Zack would have made a much better hero. He was all the things that Cloud wasn't. Like dead.

Sometimes, if he caught himself off-guard, he could still feel a little bit of Zack's soul lingering inside of him. Or maybe it was his subconscious playing out a memory. The way he sat at his desk, the way he ate, the way he walked... they were all Zack's signature when he wasn't paying attention.

The scenery rolled past him quickly. He was lucky that there was no one around. He could go as fast as he damn well pleased. He was only a little ways out of Midgar, anyway. The place he lived was closer to Kalm, which he had not a strong attachment to, so he assumed it was the best place to live. Everywhere else... had been significant.

He approached the beginning of the city and slowed down. There were more pedestrians on the streets of Midgar than actual automobiles, anyway. Not many, whether on the top or bottom sectors of Midgar, could afford anything other than public transportation, anyway.

Sector seven... He knew it like the back of his hand, and Seventh Heaven was easy enough to find. He had been there so many times, lived there, even. He stopped and parked Fenrir outside in the dirt on their nonexistent parking lot.

He slowly got off, grabbing the gifts and walked up the stairs, nearly tripping, and used his back to push the door open. "Hey, Tifa, can you help me out a bit?"

Apparently her idea of help was tackling him to the ground and showering him with a lot of talk that blurred together and didn't make a whole lot of sense. Either that, or he was drunk without realizing it.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." He got up, brushed himself off, and placed the toys on a nearby table and seat. He reached into his pocket and the lollipops made a clink noise as he somewhat slammed them down.

"It's so nice of you to get the children gifts," she said, all smiles.

He raised an eyebrow and then remembered. He hadn't taken the earrings out yet. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the red box. "Don't think I forgot about you, Tifa." He just hoped her ears were pierced.

"Oh, they're absolutely beautiful," she said. "These must have cost a fortune, Cloud! You have to take them back. I've got nowhere to wear them to, they'd look awkward on me in a bar like this... I can't accept these."

"Nonsense. They'll look beautiful on you anyway." He held the box up to her left ear and squinted, pretending to scrutinize her. "They really bring out your gorgeous earlobes."

He was punched lightly in the shoulder. Not that it was very light, considering that her fists were her weapons. "Stop fooling around with me, Cloud. It's not funny." She was smiling anyway. "The kids'll be home from class soon. It's a half day. And hey, what took you so long to get here? It's almost eleven." Damn.

"Overslept. I was up all night thinking about coming over here today."

"I told you to stop lying to me," she replied. She moved back away to washing some beer mugs.

"Who said I was lying?"

She looked down and blushed, but it had worked. She had shut up. Momentarily. "Thank you so much for coming," she finally said. "We've missed you very much, Marlene, Denzel and I. And everyone else too, I'm sure. I haven't heard from Vincent or Cid in the longest time though."

"I'm sure Vincent's off somewhere going on about his lost love and Cid's finally realized his feelings for that secretary of his. What's her name?"

"Shera? I don't know... Personally, I think they're together now. Didn't you notice at Yuffie's last party? Anyway... it's not particularly important, as long as they're happy." She smiled as she placed the last beer mug on the drying rack. "I think it's cute... Everyone's found a little happiness now. The world's a better place again."

Everyone. Everyone had found a better life, it seemed, but them. Was it all Cloud's fault though, that the both of them were unhappy? It sure seemed that way... that he was at fault. But he was always at fault when it came to their relationship.

Just then, Marlene walked in the door, and not seeing the gifts or Cloud, threw her backpack on the table and heard it slam with a large thunk! "We got new books today, Tifa. They're hard-back this time. Why? They're not only heavier, but more expens--Cloud!" She ran over to hug him. "When'd you get back!"

"Just now, actually," replied Tifa. Cloud didn't look like he was in much of a position to talk. "He brought you a teddy bear. Isn't it the biggest one you've seen?" She seemed to beam when she talked now. She was so happy.

"Oh, wow, it's gigantic!" she exclaimed, breaking away to look at it.

Cloud coughed uncomfortably to loosen up a little. "So, where's Denzel?"

"Oh, him. He thinks he's all high and mighty now that he's almost a high school student. He hangs out with his 'friends' after school all the time, and never does his homework. But he'll regret it this time, because by the time he gets home, you'll be too tired to repeat the story of what's been happening in your life all this time."

"Not really," he said. "Nothing's changed about me. But tell me about yourself. You've grown so much; you're taller than Tifa!"

"Oh, you should see Denzel. He's all lanky now. He shot up a foot in the last two years; I swear it. Oh, but now that you're home, we should call everyone up and have a party!" She clapped her hands together in excitement. "Tifa, can we throw a party?"

"I called everyone after our conversation last night, Cloud. I hope you don't mind... but I just wanted everyone to see you again. And I thought, because you were okay with coming to see us, that you wouldn't mind it if all our other friends came and--"

"Tifa, it's fine." Mistake. He knew it had been a mistake from the start. Everyone was going to be around him, and everyone was going to bug him about everything. How his life was, how come he never kept in touch or replied to their calls... Yuffie would probably suggest they have a system to remember to mail each other every once in awhile.

Ironically, the door opened and in ran Yuffie. "I came as soon as I got your call. But then I fell asleep on the bus and... Spikey!" She ran over to hug him but stopped. "Oh, snap. I left Wutai as soon as I hung up, because I knew that if I waited, I'd never get here early enough. Spikey, remind me to finish my training later. Tifa, can I use your shower?"

Tifa giggled slightly. "Yes, Yuffie. And you should put on a different set of clothes, too. You're absolutely caked in dirt! Were you training in mud?"

"Nope. In fact, I think I was perfectly clean, if a little funky, when I hit the road. You can't get good last-minute transportation. I've been on a crowded bus, the back of a truck, stowed away on a boat, on a chocobo, and walked the rest of the way. Also, don't go too near the butcher shop in sector six; there's a giant mud puddle up front, and the kids playing in it really like to pelt random passersby." By this time, she was shouting from the bathroom in the back.

The door opened again, revealing Cid and Vincent. Tifa raised a brow and Cid quickly said: "We ran into each other on the way over."

Tifa winked in Cloud's direction, as if to say: "Told you so." She then turned her attention back to Cid and Vincent. "Well, I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. Where do you two live, now?"

"Cid has since moved back to Rocket Town, and I to Nibelheim," replied Vincent curtly. "Though I no longer sleep in the coffin that Hojo had so well provided me, my living conditions are pretty much the same."

"Really? I thought you'd have caught yourself a girlfriend by now, Vincent," Tifa teased. "Unless you're still caught up on that Lucrecia lady. You know, I really don't think she likes you."

"And you, Cid?" asked Cloud, deciding to go along with it. "Have you and Shera gotten together?"

"You two know, don't you?" asked Cid.

"Maybe we were not being subtle enough. I thought Cloud would be the last to know. No offense, Cloud."

He tried to not look insulted, and failed miserably. "I am not as slow as some would like to think I am, Vincent." Then he looked down. "Although, you are right. I wouldn't know if Tifa hadn't told me."

"Told you what? What's going on?" asked Marlene, completely confused.

"You'll understand when you're older," said Tifa nonchalantly. Marlene didn't even try to hide the hurt look on her face. She hated being patronized... After all, having sat through the death of her parents, and the near-destruction of The Planet twice, she thought she could pretty much handle anything.

Her hurt was melted as soon as it came when Barret walked in the door. Even though she knew he wasn't, she had started referring to him as her father. "Daddy!" she exclaimed as she ran over to his outstretched arms. "How're the oil fields?"

"They're wonderful. Hasn't been a spill in ages and we figured out a way to make it just as efficient as mako energy. I was hard-pressed to take a day off work, but Tifa said it was urgent. No one's dead, right?"

"Better!" said Marlene. "The dead now walk! Cloud's come to visit!"

"Holy... that _is_ urgent. You ain't dying, right? Not sick?"

"I'm not..." Cloud said. "I just thought it'd be nice for us all to get back together for a bit. Catch up. Things like that."

Yuffie was drying her hair as she walked back into the room. "Hey... looks like we're only a cat and a lion short of a party." She walked over to Tifa and asked: "Did Vincent and Cid walk in together?" and said: "Thought so!" when she nodded in reply.

"Does everyone know!" Cid asked in exasperation.

"I don't," said Barret. "But I gotta feeling I don't really wanna know, so don't tell me."

Yuffie walked into the back to go put the towel away as Cait Sith bounced in through the door. His first words were to offer everyone a good, old-fashioned round of fortune telling.

Tifa smiled and decided to take her hand at it, because no one seemed to be interested. "How compatible are Cloud and I, Cait Sith?"

He rolled his dice and bounced from one foot to the next before coming to a decision. "Oh, I shouldn't say." He sounded sad, but he still looked like a happy camper. His eyes were turned up and his mouth was agape. Such were the defects of being a stuffed cat.

"Oh come on, tell me!" said Tifa. "I can handle it."

"You two... are not compatible at all." His word was like a blow to the entire listening audience. Cait Sith paused, and if they could see his irises, they would've caught them both shifting. "I'm kidding, of course! You two are perfect for each other!"

Tifa looked a little disappointed, but went along with it for the sake of everyone else. "Thanks, Cait." She got up from crouching to meet eye-to-eye with the toy. "So, anyone else want to have their fortune told?"

The whole of the party was silent for a moment, but then Marlene stepped up to the plate. Things were awkward enough, anyway. "I want to know how I'll do on my next test, Cait Sith!" she said, smiling. Everyone went back to what they were doing, which was, essentially, nothing.

Cloud felt that the silence was very bothersome. In all these years, maybe he hadn't been alone, and nothing had happened to anyone else. Maybe everyone was secretly in love with Sephiroth and wished he was still alive, too.

"Um... is anyone up for lunch? I'll need help in the kitchen though, because I didn't have enough time to prepare for company last night." She grabbed Yuffie, who was now back, by the arm and dragged her towards the kitchen. "Come, we womenfolk must go cook."

"H--hey! Stop being sexist against your own gender! That's weird! And let go of my arm; you've got a weirdly strong grip--" Yuffie's voice trailed off into the distance. Or at least, behind the closed doors.

"I don't think she trusts you," said Cid.

"Truthfully, I don't either," replied Cloud.

"She just misses you," retorted Marlene, in her defense.

"It's none of our business," finished Vincent. It seemed that his word was final. Well, that was, for a few moments, until Cid decided that he was going to be much too interested in petty gossip.

"Are you interested in someone else?"

"What a rude question to ask!" commented Marlene. "You should leave Cloud and Tifa's relationship alone!" That definitely called for a change of topic. There was no fury like a child scorned, much less one that would probably stay up all night telling Tifa what jerks all her friends were.

"Why don't we all sit down? Cid, Vincent, I want to hear about you two," Cloud said, grabbing a mug from below the counter and filling it. "I suppose a congratulations is in order."

"I don't see why," Cid replied. "It's not like we're getting married or anything."

"But I see clearly into your future!" remarked Cait Sith. "And the future looks--"

"Shut up for a second, Cait," said Barret. "So let me get this straight. You two... are... Man, I told you I didn't wanna know."

Marlene just giggled. "Oh, that. I already knew that... why'd you act so secretive, Cloud? It was obvious, anyway. But all I needed was confirmation. For that, I thank you. Next time though, don't think I don't know what's going on with everybody."

"Sometimes I think you know too much," replied Cloud. "But maybe that's a good thing. Just... not when it comes to our group, right?" He passed drinks around to some of the adults, and raised an eyebrow when Marlene reached out her hand for one. "You may be mature for your age, but until you grow up a little, you're not getting any."

Marlene pouted, but decided against arguing. After all, this was certainly one she was going to lose badly. Especially if Tifa ever found out. Then again, Tifa should never have left a five-year-old in charge of a run-down bar with shady characters coming in and out every night.

Vincent sat down next to Cid and almost out of habit, placed his human hand on Cid's. It was involuntary, and Cid took awhile to realize it was there. At first, he flinched at the thought of all his friends seeing, but then remembered that they were all okay with it... well, with the exception of Barret, he supposed.

Cloud noticed it too, and he thought, maybe there was hope... Well, maybe there would have been hope if the object of his affection wasn't a mortal enemy of theirs and a murderer and... He stopped. He was being self-centered and off-tangent when, instead of worrying about himself, he should have been happy for his friends.

Maybe Tifa was right. Maybe everything was about him, and he, in the defense of losing ego, had complained that Tifa had been the one who was self-centered and narcissistic. It made him angry how much he hated himself.

It didn't matter though, because just then, Tifa and Yuffie walked in with plates of homemade dishes. It was a very strange, but very nice blend of Nibelheim, Midgar, and Wutai cuisine. The scents melded together, and even though separately they would have been delicious, gave off a strange smell.

Cid tried not to wrinkle his nose.

Cait Sith wasn't able to eat anyway, so he wasn't worried at all. He decided to keep them company anyway, and hopped up and down while juggling empty beer mugs. "If you need a refreshment, I'll be glad to fill your glasses!"

Tifa petted him on the top of his crown. "Thanks for being such a help, Cait." She placed the dishes on the table. "Now come on, everyone. I know it smells weird, but it tastes good... individually, anyway."

"And if anything moves," added Yuffie, "you tell me, because then I'll kill it first. Don't want you guys to eat anything that could wriggle down your esophagus, anyway."

"Yet, you're making us eat it raw?" commented Barret.

"Oh, no. It's cooked," Yuffie replied. "But you know those random battle monsters. They're really tough, some of them. They just won't die. Anyway, if it's moving, it'll probably die if you poke it a little. Like, in the eye."

"I think I speak for everyone when I say I don't feel hungry anymore," said Cloud.

"Yeah, he's right," said Cid, waving his hand and turning around, almost throwing up. He turned back after a second, coughed, straightened out his shirt, and pretended like nothing happened.

Yuffie giggled. "It was just a joke. You have such a weak stomach for such a frequent flier." She walked over and used Cid's shoulder as an armrest. "Now come on, my cooking isn't that bad. And I wouldn't cook random battle monsters. Rats, maybe."

Cid shrugged her arm off in slight annoyance. "Yeah, yeah. I think I'll just stick to what Tifa made, thank you."

She put her arms on her hips and had the most insulted look on her face that she could muster up in such short a time. "Well then, _Gramps_, you can cook for your damn self, or you can go and just eat your _boyfriend_ or something!"

Cid looked to Vincent for moral support. After about a few seconds of staring, Vincent put down his glass slowly, dabbed at his lips, and looked up slightly. He lifted his hand and traced little spirals on Cid's chest. His eyes lifted upward to Cid's eyes, as he purred: "I don't know, that isn't such a bad idea..."

The blond pilot opened his mouth to protest the public display of affection, and then he returned his attention fully to Vincent. A little smirk on his lips, he took the ex-Turk's flesh hand with both his own and lifted it to his face. "How about I grab us a bottle of honey?"

Yuffie cut in. "Okay, you guys can STOP! Gross! We get the point, god!" She shook her head, arms in the air, and looked towards them again. "Ugh!" She cupped her ears in her hands and shook her head violently. "Grossgrossgrossgross!"

Cid snickered under his breath and Vincent silently returned to his meal.

The rest of them took their seats at the table, Marlene slightly confused and Cloud a little uneasy. Barrett, however, tried very hard not to say anything. He had almost gotten a hold of the fact that some of his closest friends were sleeping with each other. Almost.

Cait Sith bounced around from side to side and clapped his hands together. If he couldn't partake in their meal, he would at least annoy them to the point where they would want to kill him. Though, he was just a toy, and his death would be meaningless except to Reeve. And he would be able to rebuild a Cait Sith. Hopefully, a less annoying one.

Apart from Cait, they ate in silence. Just then, Denzel walked in and threw his backpack on the floor, put his headphones on and blasted his MP3 player as he sat down. He only waved to acknowledge the rest of the crew as he reached for the potatoes.

Tifa reached out and stopped him. "Denzel," she said, her head turning to the side. "At least say hello to everyone first."

He cleared his throat, and put his headphones on the table. They blared loudly. "Hello Marlene, hello Barrett, hello Cait Sith, hello Yuffie, hello Vincent, hello Cid, hello Cloud, hello Tifa." He put the headphones back on his head. "Where's Nanaki?"

"You're not surprised that they're all here?" asked Tifa.

Denzel shrugged and reached again for the potatoes. No one tried to stop him this time. He was a lost cause. Either that, or he was seriously taking the "I wanna be just like Cloud!" thing too seriously. Cloud could torch down Midgar, pretend Jenova was his mother, and convince Denzel to bring him oddly colored materia. Anyway, Denzel seemed to have gotten the "apathy" facet down pat.

There was a scratch at the door and Tifa got up to get it. "Red!" She leaned down and patted him on the head. "You're in time for lunch, come on in." Yuffie handed her the water bowl and food bowl, both filled with his favorite food and drinks.

Tifa took them and walked in with them. Yuffie closed the door after Nanaki, ruffling his mane a little. "You don't look any older than thirty, 'Naki. You'll have to tell me your secret," she said.

He arched a brow and shook his head. "Well, you certainly haven't changed mentally," he finally decided as he dug into his meal. She just stuck out her tongue at him.

Cloud finished his plate and stood up, putting his napkin and glass on it. "I'll start cleaning the dishes." Yuffie waved towards him as she took her things, chugged the rest of her juice, and put her plate and utensils on top of his.

Tifa grabbed the other finished plates. "Let me help you, Cloud," she said with a smile. Somehow, even washing dishes with him made her happy. After all, his presence was better than nothing.

He put them in the sink and turned on the faucet. He washed in silence, as Tifa watched him. He waited and then took one of the plates she had gotten. Scrub, scrub, scrub.

"So, how are things?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"Anything exciting happen in the last five years?"

"Not really."

She slammed the plates on the counter. "Talk to me, Cloud."

"About what? There's nothing to discuss. You asked me questions; I gave you answers. I'm not 'disseminating', either. I'm telling the truth, and the whole truth."

Her fingers tapped relentlessly on the counter. Her other arm was on her hip, which was far to the side in annoyance. "Fine then, Cloud. Nothing happened within the last five years. You died right after that party and haven't resurrected until yesterday. Is that what you're meaning to tell me? You're starting to sound like Sephiroth."

"Don't mention him."

"Why Cloud?" she asked, a hint of mocking laughter in her voice. "He's gone now, for good. What bad could happen from me talking about him? You're over that, right? Don't feel guilty about killing him; he deserved it."

He was dead silent.

"You're guilty about killing that freak! I can't believe this! Cloud, you're talking about the same man who killed my father. Who killed President ShinRa. Who torched down our hometown, who tried to kill you, who..." She shook her head. "You lied to me. Everything happened in the last five years. You've changed."

"No I haven't."

"Oh, so you were always in love with Sephiroth?"

She received a glare.

"It was a joke," she stated. "Oh my god. Cloud... you're serious, aren't you? Why? Why would you... why would you lie about something like that to me? Cloud... you lied to me about how you felt... I..." She turned around and walked out.

Immediately, Yuffie walked in. "What happened? Tifa... Tifa just sorta, stormed out. Well, upstairs. I think she's going to cry or something. Did you hit her? Why did you hit her? Cloud! What the hell were you thinking!"

"I didn't hit her." That was all the explanation that he could offer.

Yuffie didn't want to stop asking. "What did you do to her?"

"Ruined my marriage," he said, and before Yuffie could ask another question, he walked out on her. He ran after Tifa, who was sitting on the bed in tears. His face softened in concern; at least he still had a heart. He walked over and tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.

"How long, Cloud?" Her voice was a little weak, but she tried, she did.

"How long what?" His was slightly angry, but he tried to hide it.

"Have you loved him? How long have you loved him?"

"I don't know. Why do you even care?"

"I always knew I would lose out to a memory... I just always assumed that the memory was Aeris. I think I feel more insulted now. At least Aeris had been pretty. And... not... completely... insane..." She leaned her head against Cloud's shoulder and laughed. "I love you, and I want you to be happy. Even if you never loved me the way I loved you, that's okay. I don't want a lie."

"You're not mad?"

"I'm a little mad... But it's not because you love a dead man I hate. It's because for the last six years, I thought that our separation was a temporary thing. I... guess it's not. And I will never be able to forgive Sephiroth... but it's not like you're going to bring him over for dinner anytime soon."

"Yeah... guess not." Lonely. He was absolutely destined to be lonely.

"And hey, thank you for telling me. Even if we never be happy again, at least you gave me the chance to move on." She patted his hand, grabbed it, and let go slowly. "Thank you, Cloud."

He looked down. "Yeah." He opened his hands. His eyes were a little sad, but he asked for it, really. Maybe he had been too hasty in deciding his fate. Maybe he didn't want to dote upon a dead man forever. He didn't want the marriage, but he missed it already. He squeezed his hands together, but it was still there. That little bit of metal with the wolf that used to sit proudly on her ring finger.


	4. Chapter 03

It had been a hard night. No one, not even Yuffie, asked any questions. They hadn't even asked when Cloud and Tifa slept in different rooms. Actually, for them, that had been perfectly natural. Cloud's silence at dinner had been, too. Besides, that night, everyone had been too preoccupied with the noise from Cid and Vincent's room.

Cloud got up and out of bed. He hadn't packed any clothing, he had realized, and was in his underwear and Vincent's cape. "It's cold outside! Yuffie, get out of the bathroom!" He knocked on the door. "Yuffie!"

The Wutaian girl yawned, bunny pajamas and matching slippers seeming to twitch their noses. "Cloud-chan, stop calling my name. If you can't stay away from me for a night, I can totally understand, but you're gonna have to explain that to Tifa."

"Wait, Yuffie... if you're not in there..."

Cid walked out of the bathroom. "Morning. Nice underpants, Cloud." Vincent walked out after, smiling and pulling Cid by the collar for a kiss, other hand trying to straighten out the messy black locks of hair. "It's so great that you lot know," said Cid, eyes still locked on Vincent's.

"Nn," muttered Cloud. "If you left anything in the bathroom, and I step in it... I'm gonna... gonna... ugh." He shook his head and just walked in the door, closing it behind him.

Yuffie giggled. "He's just mad because he's not getting any. Don't worry, I'm happy for you two. Now... go somewhere else, because as happy as I am for you, it's starting to get a little... you're not even listening, are you?" She shook her head and headed back towards her room.

Cloud walked out after a few minutes, hair still damp. He hadn't paid much attention to his shower; he had been too distracted thinking about what his teammates had done in it. All he found was a lot of Vincent's hair. He'd never found so much of it... and... He tried to erase the image out of his head. "Next person!"

Yuffie came up to him and slapped him. "I can't believe you... you... and Tifa... that's why she was crying last night! After six years of leading her on, and you... you drop her! So, Cloud, who's the other woman?"

"There is no other woman," came his reply.

"Well then, what is it? You're just not in love with her anymore? I refuse to believe you left for five years and just realize that now. So, the joke's up, Cloud. Who is it?"

"Ask Tifa. If she told you all that, I'm sure she would be able to tell you everything else you need to know."

"She didn't tell me anything. But let me tell you, Cloud. She never takes off that ring of hers. Every time she looks at it, she gets all... nostalgic. Never. You... you broke her heart." She wagged her finger at him, and her eyes narrowed. "Sleep with one eye open."

"I don't really feel like discussing this with you. I didn't even really discuss this with Tifa. Please, just... let it go. It's over, and it's in the past. There's nothing you can do; there's nothing I can do."

"I can't believe you're saying this! She's loved you since she was thirteen years old. She talks about you every night I call her. Endlessly! Sometimes, I just want to say 'shut up!' but I can't, because I'm a good person. Cloud, are you a good person? I mean, really!"

"I don't know. I don't even think anymore. Not before I speak, not before I act, never. Listen. I love Tifa, but I'm not in love with Tifa. I'm not entirely sure I've ever been. She's twenty-seven. Resilient. She'll find someone who deserves her."

Yuffie looked at him, mouth agape for awhile. "But she doesn't want someone else, Cloud! Don't you remember-- she wants you! She's always wanted you! And you made a vow to her. You promised her that she could have you, and that promise is irrevocable!"

"Really, then I wonder what divorce is," he replied, now very annoyed.

"Just tell me who it is, Cloud."

"I don't want to tell you who it is," he replied.

"So it is someone else," she said, eyebrow raised.

He looked at her, looked down at his feet, and looked back at her. His mouth opened and closed to say something a couple of times, and failed. "D..d...damn you, Yuffie!" He walked off, shoulder brushing against hers as she smiled to herself.

Before he could get back to his room, he ran into Tifa. Before he could say anything about last night, a packet of paper was shoved into his chest. He took them and looked at the print, marred only by a fancy signature at the end.

"I got up early this morning. All you have to do is sign them, and it's all over."

"How'd you get them without me?"

"Easy, I told them the truth. You lied about your sexual preference. I showed them that picture of you in Wallmarket... And then I brought that one where you ran into Mukki that one time. The time where he practically raped you? They didn't doubt me for a second."

"Yeah, but I don't remember ever consenting to Mukki. Wasn't it obvious that I wasn't all that happy in all the pictures?"

"Not really. They looked at me, and then at the pictures, and handed me the papers."

"And I hope you burn those pictures," he said, as he took up the pen in her outstretched hand and signed on the line with the x next to it. "So that's it, then. We're officially not married to each other anymore."

"Yup. No more marriage... you're free of me, and I of you. We'll be out of each other's lives forever. Well, except for Yuffie's birthday parties."

"Well, I don't know about that. I'm not on very good terms with her anymore, now that she's found out about the divorce. So, after today, I guess we're never going to see each other again. And if we did, we'd be friends, right?"

"Yeah." She looked down. "Great friends. We were always friends before we were together, Cloud. Even though I may not have acted like it at some times, I always believed in you. And I always thought I'd end up with you, and we'd live somewhere modern and have little kids running around."

"...Tifa..."

She quieted, and sniffled a little, before putting her hand up to her nose and turning away. She quickly walked away from him, for the second time within twelve hours. Cloud could never get a break.

He walked back to his room and sat down on his bed. He was a single man now. And even if he could ever get over who he was in love with... even if he could bring him back, and Sephiroth loved him back... He wasn't kidding anyone.

He was in love. He was deeply, madly in love, too. That feeling that had harbored in his heart for ages... and it was resurfacing its ugly head. How long? He didn't know how long. He didn't really want to know how long. He... There was no "how long." Always. Always was his answer.

He leaned his head back on his pillow, and closed his eyes shut. He'd sleep it off... Yeah, he'd just sleep it all off and everything would be okay. But he knew that he couldn't... He couldn't just sleep it off. In fact, he couldn't even just sleep. He switched over to another side and tried again. Nothing. Nothing but an eternity of trying to erase everything from his mind so he could sleep.

Laughter rang in his ears. Cold, cold laughter that bit like the freezing morning frost. He knew what was coming, and didn't try to stop it. In fact, he tried to run towards the laughter... Acceptance. He knew that he wouldn't get over the whole ordeal until he accepted himself for who he was and whom he loved.

He ran, and the laughter got louder, warmer. Where ever he was seemed like an endless white void with soft lighting. It looked kind of like death had. He hadn't seen it for five years, but the familiarity rushed over him. He stopped. Could he see anyone here? No... The only time that had happened, Aeris had been in a field of flowers. So then why?

But there he was, with his arms outstretched in a wide gesture. Cloud stopped mid-run and walked over to the one-winged angel, but shook his head with a small smirk. "First, an explanation."

"On?" Sephiroth walked the last step between them and lifted Cloud's chin with his fingers, softly but with a little force. He leaned in for a kiss but stopped when he realized his lips were to make acquaintance with a cheek.

"Why am I here?" he asked. He tried to make his voice sound as annoyed and serious as possible.

"Obviously it's because you've been thinking about me lately. And hearing me. I thought I lost you after the northern crater... but then again, here you are. So I guess I already know the answer to 'did you miss me?'"

"Why do I still love you?"

"I'm irresistible."

Cloud snorted. "Well, you haven't lost your ego." He turned to look at the silver-haired warrior. "But that doesn't mean I don't believe you. So... you know I missed you, but did you miss me?"

"There's no one to spar with up here. It gets boring."

His expression changed to one that resembled slightly of Yuffie's. "Is that all I'm good for? A quick spar? I think I'd be less insulted than if you had said all I was good for was doing it!"

"You need to die sometime; it loosens you up when there are no stresses." His arms were around Cloud and he moved his hand to tilt the younger man's head to his chest. "Of course I missed you."

Cloud heaved a nervous laugh. "You're getting too sappy on me. I think I liked it better when you were insane." He lifted his head and gave Sephiroth a quick peck on the lips. He then leaned upwards again, deepening the kiss.

The response was a warm one, as Sephiroth returned the gesture and pulled Cloud closer to him. His hands were warm and strong, still. His grip was that of confidence, just like always. He was always so sure of his actions.

When they broke away, Cloud's lips were all too aware of the cold in the air. His eyes opened slowly and he lowered his heels back down to the ground. "I love you, Sephiroth..."

Sephiroth smiled, and that smile turned into a laugh. At first it was a small laugh, and it rose. It rose so that his head tilted back and his shoulders shook, and as one hand clutched his stomach, the other was over his eye. The laugh was the epitome of evil.

As Cloud backed away with confusion and hurt all over his face, the body before him morphed into a great blue creature... no, it was a monster. The laugh became high-pitched and shrill, causing Cloud to cover his ears and wince in pain. Those dark blue arms reached out for him and those eyes opened to reveal the only resemblance she had to her 'son.' "Weakling boy, foolish! Heehee!"

His eyes opened and he snapped awake in bed. "It was just a dream," he reassured himself. "Just a dream..." He put his head in his hand and heaved a sigh. It took him a moment to realize that a blanket had just been over his chest.

He got up and out of bed, ran a hand through his hair and he smoothed out his shirt. "Just a dream," he muttered to himself. "Just a dream..." Last time he checked, Jenova had one red eye and one nonexistent, and she didn't have arms anyway. Yeah, that was it. Everything had been a dream.

It was already noon, and he could feel it in his stomach. He walked out of his room and into the kitchen to fix himself something. He looked in the cupboard and took out two slices of bread. It was just like Tifa to get the household whole wheat. He twisted the plastic together and put it back in the cupboard. If he left anything out and it went stale, his head would be on the line.

There was absolutely nothing good in the refrigerator to put on a sandwich. He settled for a slice of tomato and a dash of pepper. At least it was something. He'd just wash it down with something more substantial.

When he finished, he walked into the main bar area and looked to Tifa. She was sitting down and watching a little television that they had installed in the top corner of the building. She turned around hearing Cloud's cough. "Morning, sleeping beauty. The others already left. Sorry for not telling you... but they had to get back to their lives, and you were so peaceful napping."

"Nnn," he replied. He started walking towards the door, but before he opened it, he looked at Tifa. Her ears were a shade of red and the earrings he had bought her were dangling from her lobes. They were slightly swollen and he could barely see the black mark surrounding the punctures.

He assumed it was Yuffie who pierced them that morning. He turned back around and walked into the sunlight. "Goodbye, Tifa." He didn't even get an acknowledgement. He walked slowly to Fenrir, as if there had been some mistake and she would come running to say goodbye before he had a chance to leave. It had to be... she wouldn't ever let him leave without the least bit closure, especially since this time, he was sure not to return.

So he waited. He waited for a few more minutes, and thought he should leave. But he pulled out his cell phone and thought: "until the ten minute mark. I'll leave then." Soon, those ten minutes turned into fifteen, and then a half an hour. Nothing.

It was already well into the afternoon when he gave up, and taunting laughter followed him with the wind. That shrill sound reverberated in his ears and he had to stop when his eyes closed and his ears were about to bleed. Or at least, it felt that way.

It took a few moments to realize where he was. Then he saw the women, the men, and the men dressed rather convincingly like women. And the house at the end of the road was a dead giveaway. He tried to start up his bike again, but the laughter turned more into a scream with high frequency when he tried. Instead, he got off.

There were memories of the place, but none of them had been fond. Especially when he had to wear that set of lingerie. He was glad to have had a chance to change out of them afterwards, because going into battle with them on would have killed him.

"Hey there, lonesome," said an androgynous voice. The owner of it walked towards Cloud, heavily mascara'd eyes trailing up and down his body. It was evident to Cloud that matching was not a fashionable thing to do in Wallmarket. The "it" that walked towards him had a black wig shaped like a bob on, with a maid's bonnet tied onto the plastic strands by rhinestone barrettes. The person was wearing a corset showing off a pair of obviously unnatural things that could not be referred to anything else but "knockers." The person also donned a pair of cut-up denim shorts, arm warmers, and shiny black "fuck me" boots. "Looking for someone to pass the time with?"

He wasn't sure whether to say "sorry, I'm straight" or "sorry, I'm gay" to avoid confrontation, so he decided not to take that route. "No thanks, I'll pass. Besides, isn't a little too early for you to offer services?"

The person shrugged and looked off to the side. "New to this place, aren't you? There's no such thing as too early in Wallmarket. Unless, of course, you'd like to take it up with the new Don." He had completely forgotten. Reno had killed Don Corneo seven years ago.

"Not really, no. I was here seven years ago... but that's really not an experience I'd like to relive."

"Oh? Did someone show you a bad time? Aww come on, don't base that on one time. Besides, you're back, right? Give this place another shot. It's like that old saying... 'When in Wallmarket, do who the Wallmarketers do.' Otherwise, you won't get the most bang for your buck."

"Actually... Well, I'd explain why I stopped but you'd think I was crazy. It doesn't matter. I'm leaving." He tried to get back on Fenrir, but as soon as he touched the handle, he retaliated. It was as if the handle had been under the sun too long and burned him. _Foolish boy, you're not beautiful enough._

The it tilted their head, a smug grin spread across that finely-tuned scientifically altered face. "Now, if I didn't know better, I'd think that you'd actually want to stay in this place..."

"It's really not my decision," he said, waving his hands and forcing a laugh to make it seem like it was all some big joke that wasn't very well planned. Maybe it _was_ on Jenova's part...

The it arched a meticulously sculpted eyebrow and touched Fenrir. It shrugged. "Fine, pretend my hospitality isn't good enough for you." Then, reaching into their corset and pulling out a business card, they winked and handed it to Cloud. "Ta-ta! If you need me, you know where to reach me!"

Cloud looked down at the card in his palm. "Peridot de Amethyst. Reach me at 4241-2958-3525." Well, that didn't answer any questions about Peridot's gender, but he assumed that it wanted to be referred to as a female. Though, he'd never see her again anyway, so he crumpled up the card and threw it on the ground.

One of the Honeybee Manor girls walked past him, head down, accidentally running into him. Obviously she was on her break and not particularly happy. "Watch it, bitch," she said, not bothering to look back at Cloud.

He decided to ignore it, until someone else bumped into him and muttered obscenities at him. Slightly annoyed, he grabbed the girl by the shoulder and pushed her out of his way. He wasn't having a good day, and he wasn't going to stand for being treated rudely twice in a row, either.

He stopped walking when he heard sobbing behind him. Walking back to the girl, who was now in the dirt and crying, he realized just how young she was. He crouched down and offered her a hand. "Listen, I'm sorry."

She took it and got up. "It's okay, mister. You just... push hard, that's all." She rubbed her side because the skin on her oblique was slightly damaged from the impact on the ground. A bruise was starting to form on the part where her body met a rock. She laughed and wiped away her tears. "I'm just being weak," she stated.

"No... sometimes I don't know my own strength. I truly am sorry... can I do anything to make it up to you? Do you want me to take you to the hospital, or something?"

She shook her head no, and looked back up at him. "But, you _could_ treat me to a drink down at the bar," she suggested. She thought he'd laugh in her face and then turn around and leave. Actually, if he was like most of the locals, he would have pushed her back into the ground, "where she belonged."

"Yeah, sure." He took her gently by the arm and walked her, hand-in-hand, to the nearest bar, because she was in shock at his response. He opened the door and let go of her. "Pick out whatever you want. In fact, pick out a couple drinks."

"Are you... sure about this, mister? I mean, it'd be easier if you just picked up one of those hookers down the street, you know. They don't want drinks or nothin', and they're probably better in bed--"

Then, he laughed. "It's okay, you're not my type in any matter."

"Oh. Well, in that case, I'll just have a beer."

He waved to the bartender and gave his order, putting a little gil on the counter. The bartender was amazed at how much he had, and he hadn't realized that he had taken out so much. He started to put the coins back in when the girl put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Mister, don't. You should order something to drink, too. You look like you've had a rough day. In any case, it looks like you've got money to spare, so why don't you treat yourself?"

He was about to say: "No," when he decided against it. After all, he had nothing to lose and there was absolutely no one who could hotwire Fenrir. And she was right, he had had a bad day. He lifted his hand from the gil pile and said: "Beers all around, please."

The bartender looked at him in confusion at first. Nobody who came by his bar had such nice clothes, was so kind, or used any manners. But then it registered in his head, and he rushed to fill up mugs of beer. He wasn't about to lose a fine customer.

Cloud took his mug and lifted it to his lips, swallowing it all in one gulp before anyone else could even have taken a sip. When he looked back at the awe in the girl's face, he sported the same look that had been on the bartender's. "Is there something wrong?"

"No... it's just... how do you do that?"

"I don't really know... I guess... being a gluttonous anorexic." She looked confused and he didn't want to explain how for most of the time, he didn't eat, and then he would just binge on whatever looked good. Instead, he ordered another beer.

Amber liquid slid down his throat endlessly, and everyone had stopped drinking to watch him. Ten mugs turned into thirteen, which turned into twenty-one, which turned into thirty, which turned into forty-five, which turned into fifty-seven.

Finally, by his fifty-somethingth glass, his speech became slurred and he started talking about his life story and how unfair it was for him. "And then it was all over, and she gave me back the ring... But it didn't matter anyhow... You know, his mother says I'm not pretty enough for him. Do you think that's why he's not back yet?"

The girl was equally as drunk but hadn't drunk a fourth of what Cloud had. "Naah, you're gorgeous. Hey... maybe it's 'cuz you're a guy. You ever think that guy you like is straight?"

"Not really... he kissed me. Okay, well, maybe it's because I was asleep when he kissed me... It was a really good kiss though... But you really think he's not back because I'm not a woman?"

"Well yeah... That, and he's dead and all..." she said. "Hey, mister? Maybe if you dressed up like a woman, you could see if that was the reason. And you wouldn't have... to like, cut off anything."

"There's an idea... But heeyy, your thinking is way too co... mpre... something... You get another drink! Bartender guy!" Cloud waved his arm frantically in the air, accidentally hitting the bartender on the nose as he came over to deliver another beer.

"Man, if I drink another one of 'em, I'm gonna piss my pants... Besides, one of us... should be so-ber 'nuff to take you so you can get all... girly... and shit." She got up and took his arm, which was probably good because if she hadn't, then she would have fallen over.

"Wait, wait." Cloud dug into his pocket and put another handful of gil on the table, which the bartender stared wide-eyed at. "Yeah, you just go 'n keep the change 'cause I'm kinda gonna be busy in the next hour or something."

The two of them stumbled into a clothing shop, but he had shook his head and looked in disgust at first. She convinced him by reminding him why he was going through all this, and he walked right in without a second thought. The first thing she picked out was a blue number that, if sober, would have caused him to reminisce about Tifa's old one. "It brings out your pretty eyes."

He went into the dressing room to try it on, and when he came out, it was much too tight-- especially in a place he didn't want it to be. He shook his head no, and she had already picked out another dress. This one was emerald green. She had said it would have brought out the warmth in the yellowish tone of his skin.

When he walked back out, he looked rather ridiculous. It was far too asymmetric and sheer for him too wear. It was too delicate for his bared arms and six-pack that showed through the fabric. Not worried, she took up a pale pink one with gold sparkles. "It looks good on everyone," she promised.

He walked back into the dressing room and tried it on. When he walked out, the girl immediately put the dress in her hands back on the rack. "That's the one..." She giggled. "Come on, pay for it, 'cause we gotta long way to go!"

As soon as he put the money on the table, she had grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out of the store to go fit him for shoes. After all, that was the second most important thing besides the dress. Immediately, she found a gold pair of strappy sandals. It was hard finding them in Cloud's size, but there was one last pair and it was paid for immediately.

He was then dragged around Wallmarket further. They went to a cosmetic store. By the time she was done with him, his eyelids were painted sparkling champagne, and heavily mascara'd. His blush made him look like he had just been punched in the face, and his lips were a frighteningly shiny shade of pink. His neck was decked in false diamonds and his Cloudy Wolf earrings were replaced with giant chandelier earrings that would've put any nineteenth-century opera house to shame.

"Am I done, yet?" he whined. "'Cause, you know, if you keep draggin' me around, I'm gonna puke from the dizzi...dizziness..." Her response was a giggle and she sprayed his face with something that smelled strongly of flowers. He spit.

"Now we're done! Well, I wanted to get you gloves and do your hair, but there's no time for that! Now, go and find your prince charming!" She nudged him in the side and he nearly fell down.

Just then, Peridot walked over again. She almost missed him, but backtracked and looked at him. "Hey... weren't you that cutie from before? Damn... you're working that dress, girl-friend! Who're you all dolled up for?"

Cloud giggled at being referred to as "girlfriend." At least his costume was effective, or at least, he thought it was. It didn't quite register to him that Peridot had known he was a man. "I'm all 'dolled up' so that the man I love will come back, 'cause I think he likes women."

"Oh. Well, my deepest apologies, then." She had a look of pity on her face. She could tell that he was very obviously drunk and that he was going to look like a complete fool in front of whoever it was that he was pining over. She thought she could help him anyway. "Is there anywhere in particular that you want to go to try and find this guy?"

"I dunno... he's kinda not on The Planet anymore. He's kinda... a part of it. Like, you know the lifestream? He's like, the lifestream. Sort of. He's a part of the lifestream! But he used to have long, silver hair. It was pretty."

Peridot sighed. "Darling, he's dead. He's not coming back."

"No, no. He's dead, but he's sooo coming back. He came back at least..." he counted on his fingers. "Three times before! I remember, because every time he died, I was there. In fact, every time he died, it was my fault! Imagine that, huh?"

She shook her head. "Sorry dollface, but he ain't coming back for you."

"No... no! He's coming back because I wasn't pretty enough before, but now... I'm different. I'm _beautiful_ now, and not even his damn mother can argue that! I'm beautiful enough for him! And I love him, I love him so much. He promised... you know what he said to me five years ago? He said that he'd never be a memory... He wouldn't lie to me, not about that."

"I'm sorry doll, but you're being a little delusional. The dead don't just walk again. That's impossible. It's a myth. Like that guy... I heard about him once. That great SOLDIER guy that turned evil? Probably wasn't even real..."

"Sephiroth..." started Cloud, "was very much real."

She looked at him. "Oh, you knew that guy? But... didn't he... Oh my god. You're... you're that Strife guy, aren't you? Damn... I always thought you'd be some old guy with huge arms and who could like, fly and shit."

"...Sephiroth... could fly..."

"...That's fucked up. Man, I don't remember the details, but didn't he like, try and kill everyone? And you're feeling sorry for him! Didn't you kill him? Why weren't you sympathetic then?"

"...I..." His face turned into an angry one and he slapped Peridot. "I don't have to give you a damn answer, whore! I love him; I love him! That's all that matters, and he'll come back to me..." He ran as Peridot was recoiling from the slap.

He ran and ran. There was no stopping, until his heels caught up with him and he realized that it was so much easier to run wearing comfortable boots. He stopped at a cliff, somewhere close to the vicinity of Zack's grave. He fell down upon his knees and just... waited.

Five minutes passed... which changed much too quickly into half an hour, and then an hour... two... The sun had set already and the sky was a dark lavender color. He looked up at the sky and finally spoke, after two hours of waiting. "Why won't you come back to me!"

He got up in anger and kicked a rock into the water. He looked up to the dark heavens that now resembled the clouds from when Sephiroth had turned the whole city dark. "Is that supposed to be a fucking sign or what!"

Beautiful. Strong. Smart. Nice. Was he any of those things? Was he someone that Sephiroth would even be interested in? No, no, no. He wasn't. He was a human... He was... "Please... please, no. I can't change that, I can't." Nothing.

"Do you hear me, Sephiroth! I love you, but I can't! I can't change that I'm a human!" He shook his head violently, even though it hurt his head to do so. "I love you! Isn't that enough? You burned down my town, you killed my friend, you manipulated me... but I love you, I love you! Please..."

Jenova's laugh rang in his ears, and he tried covering them, he tried shaking his head harder. "Isn't it enough for you?" He screamed as the laughter gained frequency. It was all in his mind, and anyone who stood next to him could have said that. It didn't stop the blood from falling down his earlobes.

He looked down at his bloody hands, and he looked back up at the heavens, and he was just aware that he was still screaming, and it became louder, and louder... and then everything just went blank.


	5. Chapter 04

When Cloud woke up, he was in a bed, and there were plugs in his ears. It was warm, and he lifted his head to find that he was in his underwear and not that dressed, and his feet were rid of those heels, but even if he moved them, they still were rather sore.

He looked around at his surroundings and blurry as they were, he knew he was at Tifa's house. He looked down at his blankets and noticed that they hadn't been changed since he had left that afternoon. He was also aware that it was light outside again.

Getting out of bed, he received a head rush from standing up too fast. He rested his forehead in his hands for a moment to adjust. He waited until the room was clearer to his eyes, and then he decided to try and walk. His clothes, the regular ones, were laid out for him on the chair. He decided that was a nice gesture and he put them on.

He walked into the main room barefoot, because he had been too lazy to put on his boots. There was a smell wafting in the room, and he was starting to realize exactly how hungry he was.

Walking over to where his nose led him, he found a plate of leftovers from two nights ago, and they had been reheated and set out the night before. They were, of course, cold now. He put them back in the microwave and set them to three minutes on high. There was a note under the paper.

"Dear Cloud, It's me, Tifa. I was going for a walk and found you... I know you're not feeling to well right now, and you were obviously drunk, so I won't ask any questions unless you want to tell me what happened. Don't worry, Marlene and Denzel didn't see you. I thought you might be hungry when you woke, so I left out some things... You didn't wake up last night though. I'll be back after I send Marlene and Denzel to the bus stop for school. Help yourself."

The microwave beeped and he retrieved his fresh-hot meal out of it. He grabbed a fork out of the drying rack and dug in, walking over to one of the tables and sat down in the chair.

Halfway through his meal, the door opened and Tifa walked in the bar. "Hey Cloud... so you're finally up, huh? You must've had a lot of alcohol... I don't think I've seen you drunk, ever."

"Me neither... You know, I think I feel really stupid now." He gave a forced laugh. "I must have looked like a complete idiot..."

"I must admit, you did. However, pink and gold are really good colors on you. Even though you were asleep at the time... You would have made a beautiful girl, Cloud." As she moved, her earrings tinkled.

He shrugged. "I... made a mistake, okay? I'm entitled to those most of the time." He shook his head. "I'd take it back if I could, alright?" He got up after finishing his leftovers. "I just... had a hard night..."

"It's okay, Cloud... I know this has to be hard on you. And I know that I haven't been very supportive of you recently... You must hate me for getting so emotional... It's just... I knew it was over long ago, but I just... never wanted to admit it to myself, I guess..."

"It's none of your fault, Tifa. You were a good person... I... Everything's my fault. I never deserved you... and I don't deserve Sephiroth. I don't deserve to be happy... I cause everyone else pain..." He sighed as he got up. "Thanks for the food, but I think I'm going to be leaving now."

"You should stay for a little bit, Cloud... You're still a little hung over. You should get some more rest or something. Did you have enough to eat? Would you like me to heat up something else? Would you like me to make you anything else?"

"That's sweet, but... I think I'm just going to go, now." He started walking towards the exit. "Thank you, Tifa, for everything. Maybe... if Sephiroth never existed, things between us wouldn't have fallen apart."

"And if it weren't for Sephiroth, I wouldn't have realized that I was in love with you. I know it sounds weird, but as sad as I am, a part of me is relieved." She smiled warmly towards him to make sure he understood.

"Yeah, because now you can be with someone who can focus all his attention on you," he replied. "I'll be going now, for real."

With that last statement, he walked out of the door of Seventh Heaven for more times in the last two days than he could remember doing for the last few years. He had left so quickly that he didn't hear Tifa's "Come back safely."

He realized that Fenrir was outside the stairs of Seventh Heaven in their nonexistent parking lot. So maybe he was wrong; someone was able to hijack Fenrir. Except, that was probably because Tifa had found the keys in his pants pocket.

Getting on, he started the ignition, and before long, he was on his road back home... The landscape passed quickly. All of it was a dull murky gray-brown, just like it had when he had come. Except, in the last two days, it had gotten slightly colder.

He just went faster, and the faster he went, the colder he became. Gloved as his hands were, they soon became slightly frozen and they slightly stung of pain, but at least they weren't numb yet. Faster, faster, faster. The wind whipped through his hair and felt like it was slapping him in the face.

He finally stopped as he reached his front door. He got his keys out and opened the door... And it felt just as chilly inside as it was outside. He kept walking in, and turned on the heat...

When he walked into his kitchen, he noticed that the window was wide open, and there were leaves in the floor. Apparently, he had left them open for the whole time that he was gone, but... He had definitely remembered closing them the night that he had received the phone call from Tifa... Yeah, he definitely closed the window. He reasoned that he had probably forgotten to lock it and the wind pushed it open.

He cleared his sink and floor from the leaves, pushing them all into the trashcan next to his drain. He put the trashcan back where it belonged, and washed his hands. It was a beautiful day outside, if a cold one. He could hear the birds singing familiar melodies, and thought that they should have been migrating instead.

His bed was extremely comfortable after nights of neglect. It was slightly cool, but the down feathers conformed to his weight, and in a matter of minutes, it was toasty warm. He closed his eyes, stopping to think for a minute how much he had been sleeping lately, and how that wasn't healthy, but ignored it. Regardless of how much he had slept lately, he was still extremely tired.

Besides, after that night in Wallmarket, he deserved it. He thought that he had learned from his lesson and would never dress up like a girl again... But no, he just couldn't have resisted. He laughed under his breath at how ridiculous that whole ordeal had been.

He closed his eyes, but for the present time being, sleep eluded him. The only thing he thought of was: "Not again..." as he turned to his side. He hated how tired he was yet how lacking his brain was in the knowledge of that feeling.

Giving up, he got up to go make himself some tea. At least, if he wasn't going to sleep, he could become energized. He decided then, that he should probably go out for a little workout afterward.

He picked up his kettle, but to his surprise, the water inside was still near-steaming hot. He decided not to question it, and poured water and tea into a mug. He hadn't remembering taking the mug out of the cupboard or the ginger oolong tea leaves out, but apparently he had a very short-term memory, because they were already laid out for him.

He sat back down on his sofa while waiting for his tea to settle. Evidently he had put the pillows back where they belonged, closed his magazine, and put it back on the rack. No, it was different. He had also apparently put them in chronological order and categorized them by name.

Now he was suspicious. Whoever had come in his house and done all these things had not only been in there recently, but whoever it was had not been malign at all. He got up to go check out the rest of his house, and to his surprise, nothing was stolen or destroyed. In fact, everything was in a better order than he had left it. The fireplace had been dusted, the silverware polished, and all his laundry had been done.

He finished his tea and walked outside to see that the leaves in his lawn, too, had been raked up. Or it was more likely that they had just disappeared, because there wasn't even sign that they had ever existed. It was obvious to him that whoever it was had done this while he was drinking his tea, and therefore, could not have gone very far.

In fact, by his measurement of time, they really should have still been in the nonexistent neighborhood, which meant, by the lack of houses and things marring the landscape, whoever it was had to have been in range of eyesight. This, of course, they weren't.

Cloud started running anyway, sword in hand. He'd make a few laps around his surroundings before he started training. He surmised that he had run about three miles before he stopped to do a little stretching. After all, it was probably due to the fact that it was cold and he hadn't stretched at the start that he was already starting to tire.

After that, he stopped to catch his breath. He sat down on the barren ground to think for a minute on who the phantom benefactor was. Maybe it had been Tifa, since apparently she had been in the area lately... Though as fast as she was, she wouldn't have been able to run to Kalm within that time being. Also, she probably would have knocked on Cloud's door for a little break, and it just was unlike her to go out of her way so much for absolutely no reason.

He got up again to do some basic SOLDIER move practices. After a few thrusts and simple maneuvers, he wished that he could have someone to practice parrying with. He decided to try it anyway, and he could have sworn that when he did, he met some resistance.

Confused for a moment, he reached out a hand to try and see if anything invisible had barred the way. Nothing... The air, like always, was intangible. There was absolutely nothing solid about it. He waved his arm around. Nothing.

He tried to parry the nothingness again, and when he did, he was met with so much force that he flew backwards and slammed, about twenty feet to the left from his beginning point.

"Thanks," he muttered under his breath. He got up and dusted himself off. "Maybe a little less maiming next time, please," he added. Thistles wavered past in apology.

Cloud smiled a little in knowing that Sephiroth was there with him. At least, he hoped Sephiroth was there with him, and it wasn't just another cruel joke to be played at his expense.

He tried sparring with the air, and it was nice, but the problem was, he couldn't see his opponent. However, every blow he made, it was met. After a few minutes or so, he could almost make out a faint outline of a glowing green. It was almost as if he could see his aura, but he had to squint to see it... and every time he noticed it and it registered in his mind, it would disappear.

After a little longer, he was tired. There was a stitch in his side and he felt like he was about to lose. He paused for a bit, but something tapped at his sword. "Come on, I'm tired... lemme rest for a bit," he said, trying to catch his breath. Masamune pushed against the Ultima weapon hard enough to knock Cloud off balance. "I said knock it off!"

Sephiroth didn't let up the fight, though. Not that easily. Cloud thought he could hear the wind slowing, but he knew that the other man could keep going easily for another hour.

Cloud stood, waved his hand to the air, and stopped. To his surprise, he thought that he heard leather moving and supposed Sephiroth was loosening himself, becoming less tense. He gulped and stood up, which used up a bit of effort. "I told you to stop..."

He felt a pat on his shoulder as he started walking back towards his house. "Hey, man... If you follow me into the bathroom, and I find out, I'll kill you." Cloud threw his sword down by the couch and took off his shoulder armor, gloves, and shirt. He also threw those unceremoniously on the ground.

His body, not unlike his clothes, was caked in sweat and dirt. He walked into the bathroom and turned the hot water spout on all the way. He kicked off his boots and his pants. Walking into the shower, he grabbed his soap and loofa.

The steam began swirling around the room very quickly. He looked around and thought he saw steam catching onto something solid. "I told you that if you came in here, I'd kill you, you pervert." But something wasn't right... He knew it wasn't Sephiroth. As hot as it was in the shower, he felt colder than he should have, and he just knew.

He quickly finished with scrubbing himself and shampooing, conditioning, and rinsing out his hair. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself, another over his head. Not bothering to put on any clothes, he walked into his living room. Sephiroth's presence still wasn't there.

"Alright, you can come back now... please... I was just kidding about that pervert thing." He forced a laugh. "I mean, if I were invisible and you were taking a shower, you'd be able to see the blood spurting from my nose."

The Ultima weapon was leaned against his wall, cleaned and polished. His clothes had been miraculously cleaned and dried in the time that he was in the shower, and folded and placed on the couch. His boots... they looked like they had never been worn before in their existence.

Cloud sighed, his head resting in his hands, and sat down on his sofa. After a minute of thinking, he decided to take advantage of what he supposed was the last of Sephiroth's kindness. He put on his clothes, noting that they were still warm and smelled of fabric softener.

The mug of tea was steaming and had been refilled for him. He smiled and picked it up, pursing his lips and taking one sip. He could at least try to savor the moment, instead of taking it for granted.

He laughed again, this time genuinely, as he looked down at his coffee table. It was the same newspaper clipping that he had loved as a little boy. It was even cut like it had been, and had the crease of his mother's thumb.

He had always thought it had burned down in the Nibelheim fire.

Looking up, he realized there was another newspaper clipping on the top of his fireplace. There was one on his kitchen table, one sticking out of his dictionary, acting as a bookmark. In fact, looking around his house, he found every newspaper or magazine clipping he had ever owned about Sephiroth... Which, he mused, was probably everything about Sephiroth that ever existed in publication that was released to the general public.

He got to his bedroom and started finding the clippings from when he had joined SOLDIER, which he thought he'd lost when he was deemed "missing in action" so that Hojo could do experiments on him without much flack. A smile spread widely across his face when he found a magazine with Sephiroth's face on it. He hadn't ripped the black wrapping paper, but he knew it immediately for what it was... Zack, being cheap, had gotten it for him for his birthday because Sephiroth was the cover story. And, he also had taken a few polaroids of the back of Sephiroth's head when he hadn't been paying attention.

Those pictures fell out on his lap as he loosened the bow. He remembered that Zack had been too lazy to put any tape on it, because he wasn't able to find any for the time being, and didn't feel like pushing his luck with Sephiroth.

The front cover had actually gotten a good shot of his face, but he hadn't been smiling. Cloud remembered reading in the article that Sephiroth had explained that he thought he looked bad and unprofessional with a smile. He also remembered the countless number of smirks that Sephiroth had shot at him before.

Well, at least Sephiroth had learned how to mix business with pleasure properly. Cloud flipped through the magazine and looked. He remembered yelling at Zack for dog-earing the page, even though, in Zack's defense, he did anticipate that Cloud wouldn't have waited to look through the table of contents. He also remembered that his rebuttal was that he could have put a bookmark in it. In fact, he distinctly remembered his suggestion was that silver-plated one that he had set his eyes on that was shaped like Masamune. Zack had argued back that he was broke.

He remembered Zack reading over his shoulder and laughing about how stiff Sephiroth sounded in the interview, and how it was obvious that they didn't just make it up, because there was no one who could be that egotistical, stoic, and apathetic at the same time.

Cloud had hit him over the head with the box of chocolates his mother sent. Zack ended up eating them all while Cloud was reading, anyway.

When he finished with the article, he thought it'd be fun to read the rest of them backwards in chronological order. It was a mark of his obsession that he, after all those years, still remembered which ones came in which order without looking at the dates.

He wished that he could rewind time as easily as it was being read backwards. As they rewound further and further, memories flooded back into his thought process. From the beginning of SOLDIER, to just dreaming about it, to getting beat up at school for having a ShinRa lunchbox (the other kids had just been secretively jealous, of course) and the stories he used to make up in his head... All the way back to those bed time stories, where most children read from their favorite picture books. Sephiroth had survived that phase, the chapter-book phase, and the comic-book phase of his generation.

He remembered vividly the very first day he had picked up the newspaper and asked his mom to read those strange words on the front. He had immediately fallen in love with what he had believed to be the greatest story ever told. He had been three years old, and Sephiroth had been twelve. Already, Sephiroth had risen to the ranks of colonel. And through the years, his mother had spent trying to find news from the three years that Sephiroth was in SOLDIER that Cloud had missed. He never knew his mother cared so much until adolescence.

Of course, every child thought about immersing themselves in their favorite fictions... He had written them down sometimes and showed them to the only people who would listen at school-- his teachers. He even had a novel going at some point... It had been ten handwritten pages long and he loved it. His language arts teacher had showed it to the class to show everyone his writing potential.

He had to clean the garbage out of his hair before his mother came home from work that day. It had taken him five rinse-and-repeats to get the smell of banana out of his locks.

Cloud smiled as he placed every piece of paper and magazine and newspaper on his dresser drawer. They were all in order now, and as he opened the drawer to stick them all in, he found the various folders that they had been kept in before, and the album he had bought specifically for the pictures that Zack had taken.

Then he arched a brow and realized exactly how crazy he had been. His obsession was borderline insane. And Sephiroth... he had probably known for a very, very long time. Cloud blushed at the thought.

In the very last folder he opened, he found a shot that he hadn't recognized from before. It was a picture of Sephiroth, and he was smiling. He wasn't just grinning or smirking, but actually smiling. It looked recent too, and seemed to be that he had taken it himself. That was strange though, as Sephiroth had been deceased, and even if he had taken it before his death, he would've been too insane to think of something so comical to do. And last time Cloud checked, he still couldn't work a camera.

He took it out of the folder and stuck the rest of his papers inside, but he got a piece of tape and rolled it so it was sticky on both sides. He stuck it to the middle of the back of the photograph and put it on his mirror. "Thank you..." he whispered as he lay back on his bed for a long-awaited nap.

After all, he was sure no nightmares, no phantom-weariness, and no stress could find him now. He was miles away from where he had been only the day before... He was almost happy.

His eyes closed then, and he fell asleep with a smile sweetly framed on his face. He hoped that it would be dreamless for fear that he would never want to wake up afterwards. To his surprise, his mind (and Jenova) finally followed his orders.

Then he awoke, and when he did, felt more rejuvenated than he had in years. It felt kind of like his first day of SOLDIER. He had gotten off the train and immediately had to go to his dorm because it had been too late to do anything else.

Every day after that, the mornings had been filled with dread and sore limbs. Oh, and getting up early to Zack's singing in the shower and refusal to get out for the better part of an hour. Cloud never really figured out what exactly it was that took Zack so long. It definitely hadn't been voice lessons.

Even though things just got worse after that, he still had remembered the very first night he had spent in the city. The artificial lights were a beautiful wonder to him, the sounds foreign and exhilarating, and the smells... Well, he wouldn't mind forgetting the scents of trash and vehicle-waste permeating throughout the entire city.

They had been the sights, sounds and smells he had fallen asleep to for a long time... But as he thought longer on it, had realized more that he did prefer his home, or at least somewhere that offered a quieter lifestyle. Even if Nibelheim had been mentally taxing at school, SOLDIER had been physically taxing. Even if the children in Nibelheim had beat him up during recess sometimes, so did his fellow cadets in SOLDIER.

He looked at his clock and then realized his stomach's growling. Walking into the kitchen, he decided it was best if he had something to eat besides anything remotely alcoholic. Rummaging through his things, he settled for a half-eaten turkey wrap that had been in his refrigerator for... more than two days, but less than a week. So he assumed it was safe.

It wasn't.

Tossing that in the trash and rinsing out his mouth, he tried to find something else to eat. Nothing. There was nothing good in his refrigerator or anything in his cabinets. At least, there was nothing substantial. But that was okay, he had lived off of that kind of food for the longest time in SOLDIER. Every day was a bunch of gray stuff and a bowl of poke-it-and-see-if-it-moves soup. So he settled for a big candy bar.

He walked into his living room and sat down, opening a magazine, and then he commenced reading where he left off the last time he had read from it. Still the same article, still the same magazine... but it seemed, the way the words were imagined in his head, had somewhat altered.

Just then, Yuffie walked in the house. He knew he should have locked his doors. He put the magazine down, but before he could utter a word about her rude entrance, she spoke. "Cloud, what the FUCK do you think you're doing? You're nancing around drunk and dressed up like a girl! You know what, Cloud? When Aeris and Tifa told me the first time that you had dressed up in Wallmarket, even though it was to save her, I didn't think they were serious! But this, this, Cloud, is just... totally messed up!"

"Yuffie..."

"I'm not done yet! Listen to me; this is unnatural! I don't care if this is a really low point in your life or any shit like that, because Cloud, you've been bitching about that for far too long for anyone to be sympathetic anymore. Besides, what about Tifa? Oh, but of course, you never once stopped to think about her, did you! She may act like she's not, but in truth, she is completely heartbroken over your idiotic actions, you dumbass! And there you are, embarrassing yourself in front of millions of spectators, over some dead man! Some crazy dead man! And she's still worried about your damn guts!"

Through gritted teeth, he muttered: "Yuffie, please shut up."

"No, I will not fucking shut up! She may lie down and let your dirty boots walk all over her, but I for one, will not stand back and watch her waste the rest of her life being all worked up over you!" Yuffie closed the door behind her and walked into Cloud's room. To her surprise, he didn't even lift a hand to stop her from doing so.

She had ripped his picture off the mirror. It was then on his coffee table, and as he looked up with seemingly complete apathy, her look turned to one of shock and disgust. "I never thought you would be the one to break her heart... I thought that in entrusting her with you, that it would be a safe choice. I guess it was a poor choice of characters, wasn't it?" She turned around and stormed out.

He slammed the magazine back down that he had read during Yuffie's little rant, and got up to his feet. Looking towards the ceiling, he yelled: "NOT ONE FUCKING MOMENT OF PEACE, DAMMIT!" He ran outside and caught Yuffie by the arm.

"Let go of me, kisama!" As she glared back at him, it was the most serious, most angry face that he had ever seen Yuffie have. "I thought, maybe for one second, it was all just one big hoax... but Cloud... this is absolutely insane! I can't believe you! Ugh! I just want to... to... AUGH!" She jerked free of his grip. "You're lucky that Tifa made me promise to leave my shuriken with her."

"Maybe I am, but listen to me, Yuffie. I couldn't go on being with Tifa if I didn't love her. Do you honestly think that her constantly not knowing where I am, and her constant worrying, and hoping that I will someday return, is really so much better than if I let her go? She wanted the truth and the entire truth, and that is what I gave her. She deserves at least that much. She'll get over me... She'll move on and marry someone else and start a real family, just like she's always wanted. It's _my turn_ to waste away over someone who can never return my love. She never deserved that; I did."

"I... I'm sorry. It's just... even though she will someday realize what a rotten jerk you were and get over it, she hasn't yet. And it just... it's painful to see her go through this, at no fault of her own. She's loved you for a long time, Cloud."

"I know."

"Do you? Really, honestly. Do you?" Yuffie looked into his eyes for an honest answer, because she had the faith in him that even that much humanity was still left in his heart.

"Yes. It's not me that doesn't understand, but you. Please, I know I'm being selfish. It's another sin you can add to my list, but if I'm going to not even try and stop myself from being an idiot and an outcast, could you at least grant me the opportunity to do so alone?"

She looked down for a second, unsure of what to say. She opened her mouth a few times, but no sound emerged. Finally, she decided on something. "Cloud, we'll never let you be alone," she said, before walking off into the distance.

Cloud stood at the front of his house, and watched Yuffie walk off. Maybe, in a way, she was right after all.


	6. Chapter 05

There was a knock on his door, and Cloud got up to get it. Before he could offer salutations, Vincent walked right past him and went to sit on his couch. It was very late in the evening, and Cloud wondered why Vincent was bothering to visit him at all.

"Cloud, we need to talk."

Cloud walked into his kitchen to heat up his tea kettle. He then walked back into his living room and sat down beside Vincent. "What of?" He placed the box of cookies he had retrieved on the coffee table.

Vincent silently waved a polite decline at them with his claw. "Cloud, I've heard of some... very eccentric things you've done lately. Cloud, this isn't good for you. You should have settled down and started a family by now, like you had promised with Tifa when you two got married."

"Why are you here?" inquired Cloud. "You've never shown an interest in my personal life before. In fact, I don't remember the last time you've said this many words before..."

"Well, it wasn't my idea, but Cid wouldn't admit to himself that he cared enough to come and talk with you about it. Besides, I do have an interest in your personal life. I just never had the incentive to voice my opinion before."

"Maybe," said Cloud, slightly annoyed at the way his friends were treating him recently, "you were right the first time." The blond ex-SOLDIER got up to get the tea that was now currently ready. "I hope you like ginger oolong, because that's all I have," he said from the kitchen.

Vincent nodded in approval, and Cloud quickly came back with two steaming mugs of tea. "But please, you must tell me what is going on in your life. I know it's hard to realize you love someone too late... And it's just, the rest of the world doesn't matter anymore. But Cloud, you have to know, it will be hard catching up to a world where only you stood still."

"I'm not going to stand still, Vincent."

"Isn't that what you've been doing for the past five years?" Vincent raised a brow and then melted his expression into a sip of tea. He put the mug on the coffee table because Cloud didn't seem to own coasters. The steam seemed to amuse him.

"Things are different now. I can... move forward."

"Or retrogress. Cloud, do you honestly think I don't know you that well?" Vincent got up. "Fine, if you don't wish to talk with me at the present time, I'll make my leave. My door's always open."

"Wait, stop." Vincent turned back around, which was surprising to Cloud. "I guess... it wouldn't hurt to tell a friend how I was feeling," he said, looking down, slightly ashamed.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Cloud. You have to realize that you can trust us... We're your friends, and we won't judge you wrongly."

"...I don't think I've ever been happier that you and Cid have gotten together." It was true, without Cid, Vincent probably wouldn't have come all the way over to talk with Cloud, and to preach ability to rant and acceptance.

Vincent looked confused for a second. "I am not sure whether I should say 'thank you' to that." He closed the door again and stepped back in, taking his seat on the couch. "Do you want to... start at the beginning?"

"You sound kind of like a therapist. You're not gonna start charging me for each hour we talk now, are you?" Cloud joked. Obviously, from the look on Vincent's face, he didn't get it. "Nevermind. Anyway... I guess it all started when I was three... It's funny, really. If my mother hadn't dropped the newspaper on the floor... I never would have seen it, and never would've gotten my obsession started."

"I'm sure you would have someday... it's kind of inevitable that all of us got involved with the whole mess... I think it was part of our predestination." He took another sip of tea before resting his head in his hands. He really did look like a shrink.

"Maybe... After that day... I just sort of, asked mom whether she had any other stories with 'that guy' in them. News didn't spread fast to Nibelheim, but at that time, Sephiroth had been all over the news... even to us.

I think he taught me how to read. Every day mom brought home the newspaper, I'd ask her to read to me... After awhile, when the stories about Sephiroth were fewer and further between, I had her read them to me over and over again... I don't remember when, exactly, but I started understanding most of the words, too. And up until the fourth grade, I had the biggest vocabulary of all my classmates.

Anyway, they hated me. I think at first it was because I was what everyone considered a teacher's pet... So they started making fun of me for my hair, my height, and of course, my incessant obsession with Sephiroth...

Of course, then he became 'cool'. It didn't help my social life much. Although, I did make some money photocopying my giant collection of pictures. That, and hall passes... But that's another story entirely.

You know, when I was ten, I wrote myself into a story. I was tall, and I had silver hair... I told you, they made fun of my hair, so I was really subconscious about it. Anyway, so basically the plot was that Sephiroth and I were a team, and we were assigned to go to this jungle on the moon. I think I saved him from asphyxiation somewhere in there, too..."

Vincent laughed. "I'm sorry... I know I'm not supposed to, but that is quite amusing. Do you by any chance have the manuscript, still?"

"It probably burned. Besides, I hate it... It was an awful story. I was so proud of it when I was finished writing it, though... I think I forced my mother to sit down so I could read it to her. I'm astonished that she kept a serious face the entire time.

After that, nothing really strange happened. Well, of course, the levels of torture that kids came up with differed. Especially after they heard I was going to join SOLDIER... that was just suicide. I wish I had never mentioned it to them... They always told me I'd never make it. I was too scrawny, too weak... They'd throw me into anything I'd fit in just to prove it. Lockers, trash cans... I had to pay for some lady's window, once. The kids that threw me into it ran away pretty fast."

"I can imagine... I think that in my life, I had always been the bully. It's how I ended up being a Turk... I think something we have in common is how Hojo weakened us both, physically and mentally."

"Yeah... I don't think I ever liked Hojo. Even when I saw him walking down the hallways, he was always so creepy... I think it amused Zack when I said that. He said I always got scared far too easily..." Cloud noticed that Vincent's teacup was completely empty except for dregs and got up to top off his drink. Vincent said a quiet thank you, and motioned for Cloud to continue.

"I think I loved SOLDIER. Even though the beating got worse, and I was tired and sore every night and every day... It gave me a lot of hope. And there was always Zack. I think if I wasn't so caught up with Sephiroth and I didn't hear about his girlfriends every goddamn night, I would've had a crush on him.

I still wonder why he gave his life up for mine... I was nothing more than a vegetable when he saved me. He didn't know that they weren't going to kill me after going through all that trouble. He gave it all away for me, even though he knew they were probably going to kill me afterwards.

It's weird... I don't feel guilty about that anymore."

"You should never have. It wasn't your fault at all." Vincent sighed and looked at Cloud. "You should really stop blaming everything on yourself... if you do that, you become a scapegoat for everyone else. Or something for everyone else to protect. Either way..."

"...I'm weak, I know. You don't need to say it. I was never strong. Not like Zack, not like Sephiroth... And I never really mastered the skill of hiding my emotions. Don't tell that to anyone else; they might start to worry."

"It's a little late for that, Cloud."

Cloud looked backwards at the clock that hung over his fireplace. "I think it's a little late for anything else. You should go to sleep. You can take my bed; I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

"Oh, no. I promised Cid I'd come home."

"He can't possibly expect you to come home at an hour like this. Besides, he's probably asleep by now and won't notice you coming in anyway." Cloud stretched out his legs and pulled the throw that was on his couch over his body. "Whatever you decide, I'm going to go to sleep right here, anyway."

Vincent shook his head as he headed towards the door. "You're hopeless."

"Yeah," Cloud muttered. "I know."

---

It was a beautiful day in Midgar. The rain was pouring outside, and for a moment, seemed to mask the smog and smell of the city. The blond cadet ran, backpack over his head, to the apartment building. His finger reached for the little button, and he pressed it anxiously.

The door made a clicking sound, and he opened it quickly, walking in, and feeling like he had been soaked to the bone. Nonetheless, he couldn't wait in the foyer until he dried, so he walked up the long flights of stairs. He wasn't sure that he had seen an apartment building in Midgar that was as fancy as the one he saw. The tiles were truly white, and the floors clean. Nothing was rotted.

The door into the apartment was already opened for him, as he walked in and kicked off his shoes. He closed the slide-door behind him and made at once for the couch. He crashed onto it, limbs sprawled out in an odd fashion, and picked up the remote.

"Long day?" asked a deep voice. The man who owned it walked over and sat beside him.

"Hn? Oh, yeah... You're so lucky you're high enough ranking to not have to do all the grunt work. I hate it. I can't even do the basic training right. I'm not cut out for this... I'll never make it. Why can't you just promote me? You have the power to..."

"Because, that is an abuse of my powers," he said. "And because I don't want you to get killed in the field because you have no idea what the fuck you're doing. But you're in no position to train right now."

The blond shrugged and barely made out a "meh" as his television changed screens for the umpteenth time. "There's nothing good on TV, Seph. Man, don't you get cable? You'd think with a paycheck like that, you could get some decent channels."

"I don't watch television though. And you and Zack aren't over a lot, so why would I bother?"

"If I started coming over more often, would you get cable?" he asked, hopefully.

"No, but I would ask you to eat first."

"...Heartless."

Sephiroth shut him up with a kiss. It always worked for him.

"Yeah, yeah, love you too. You know, someday that isn't going to work and you're going to dig yourself into a ditch. I've heard I'm pretty bitchy when I'm all riled up."

"I _know_ you're pretty bitchy when you're not." Sephiroth leaned in for another kiss. "Well, I'm glad to know that at least that last time wasn't my last straw. Let's see... what else can I say to piss you off?"

"Stop being an idiot," Cloud said as he hit Sephiroth gently over the head. "Or you'll end up owing me dinner, too. And a backrub. I really could use one of those right now..." He looked hopefully up at Sephiroth, and with a sigh, his silver-haired lover began messaging his back. "Thank you."

"You shouldn't be thanking me, because now you owe me," he said with a smirk.

"As long as it doesn't include that nurse's outfit again, I'm okay with it."

"You know you liked it," Sephiroth said. The rain stopped, and sunlight filtered in through the windows. Cloud could start to smell the post-rain asphalt from three stories below already.

"Nngh, whatever," he muttered.

"Your poetic lines render me powerless, Cloud." He kissed the boy on the forehead as he fell asleep, and Sephiroth got up to go do something else after he put covers on the blond.

It was muggy like the beginning of the summer day when Cloud awoke, and the sun was about to set. This told him that he hadn't been asleep for very long. "Nn... is it gonna rain again tonight?"

"Why? Do you have plans?"

"Naah, I want an excuse to stay the night. And also, because you get the coolest transportation to headquarters in the morning," he added. He slowly got up. "So are you gonna feed me or what?"

Sephiroth got up to go to his kitchen and absentmindedly pulled out ingredients from every nook and cranny... Something from the cupboards, something from the pantry, something from the fridge, something defrosted in the sink... He got out a few necessary cooking devices as well. He didn't even have to think about what he was pulling out; he had cooked many times for Zack and Cloud.

Meanwhile, Cloud picked the remote back up and switched channels. He finally decided on a game show where it looked like everyone was about to die. It looked like fun, anyway. It was one of those shows that he dreamed he would fly right through after SOLDIER training.

Sephiroth left the kitchen as he let everything simmer and brought Cloud a cup of coffee just how he wanted it, with two creams and seven sugars. His own was black and plain. He didn't really like coffee, just the smell.

"Thank you," Cloud said, inhaling the aroma and taking a long gulp. He then got up and walked over to the freezer. He was glad that Sephiroth remembered his favorite ice cream-- chocolate-covered, peanut-butter filled pretzels, crunchy chocolate cookies, caramel, brownie, cookie-batter, crushed candy-coated chocolate pieces, vanilla. He piled on more crushed cookies, chopped up peanut-butter cups, a large amount of syrup, sour gummy worms, whipped cream, cinnamon candies, and a cherry.

"I think I get sick every time I see your sundaes," Sephiroth commented as he walked in to check on the actual meal he was cooking. "Besides, you shouldn't eat your dessert before dinner."

"Oh, what are you, my mother? Besides, she only said that because she wanted me to have enough appetite for my dinner, which I always had, by the way. Tonight's no different." Thinking he'd won the argument, he continued stuffing his face like a squirrel in autumn.

"Whatever you say, Cloud. But, it is nice that you won't be able to fall asleep tonight. You'll fall asleep in class and I'll get to reprimand you. Since you and Zack always mess up my things, I think I'll have you clean the apartment."

"Couldn't you just be a normal boyfriend and _whip_ me into shape or something?" Cloud finished his ice cream and looked up at Sephiroth with high hopes.

"...No. You'd like that too much."

"...Well, that was sort of the point... I don't see why you enjoy torturing me so much. You could at least make it pleasurable or something. Studies show that getting rewarded is a better way to learn than getting punished!"

"Yeah, and when you do something worthy of reward, I will." Sephiroth turned back to his cooking and, taking taste tests for everything, put off the flame for some and got out more ingredients.

"That was cold," Cloud replied, as he reached into a cabinet and handed Sephiroth what he was going to get next. "But I love you anyway, because I'd starve without you cooking for me."

"That's because you're such a picky eater," Sephiroth commented as he continued with his cooking. "Now go make yourself useful and go set the table or something."

"Chill out, we've got at least another half hour before you're done everything," he said. "But aren't you just glad that I always polish everything off so we never have to deal with leftovers?"

"Not particularly," said Sephiroth. It had been awhile before Cloud had realized that Sephiroth hadn't been annoyed with him, because he had always given off that impression, even before Cloud started being a jerk in their relationship.

Cloud rolled his eyes after a period of silence. "Fine, fine. I'll go set the table, but only because you're so fucking boring that I'd rather talk to plates." It was kind of remarkable how in love they were. At the beginning, Cloud had been so enthralled just to look at Sephiroth. The hero-worship had been rather annoying, because Cloud was more of an insane fan than a friend.

Then again, Zack had been annoying at first, too. Sephiroth remembered the calls at three in the morning about how Zack forgot to remind Sephiroth about his appointment the following-- sorry, current-- day with Hojo. Sephiroth wasn't entirely sure why Zack had lived through the first week they had known each other, actually.

Cloud came back into the kitchen. "Okay, I'm done! Aren't you proud of me? I even smoothed out the tablecloth and straightened the floral arrangement of the centerpiece. It's all pretty now because the colors are more random and you don't get a yellow flower in a clump of red ones. That bothered me for the longest time."

"You bore too easily. Or maybe it's just that you've ingested too much sugar in too little time. Why don't you go burn that energy by practicing?" Sephiroth suggested. Cloud looked at him like he had assigned a shitload of homework. Actually, to Cloud, he did. "Why don't you go play that dancing game you love so much? The one with the arrows and distracting backgrounds?"

"That's a great idea! And they're only distracting because you can't tell your left from your right." He leaned up to kiss Sephiroth as if he was leaving for the morning instead of leaving to go to the other room. Then he somewhat flitted off to go find his Dance Dance Revolution mat.

A few songs on heavy later, and Cloud sat back on the couch, tired and sweaty. "Sephiroth... I'm all out of shape!" he complained from the living room. He wondered if his silver-haired love could even hear him.

"Well, what do you expect? You eat like a pig and the thought of exercise that doesn't include arrows telling you what to do makes you go insane," he replied. "I take that back. Any exercise that doesn't involve arrows or me telling you what to do."

"Just for that, Seph, you aren't getting any tonight!" Cloud yelled. Then he thought about that for a minute, and remembered that that threat wasn't a very good one around the man. "Scratch that! Instead, you have to pull me out of class tomorrow!"

"Fine! In fact, I think I'll be doing that more often! Once a week, instead of going to class, you'll do extensive training under my command so I can find your weaknesses and strengths and help you!"

The living room was silent for a few seconds, and Sephiroth smirked into the gravy. Finally, Cloud decided on something to say. "I hate you, you know that? My burning hatred for you is immense! Like whoa! Like... this much! Except you can't see me from where you are, you bastard!"

It took awhile for Sephiroth to stop laughing. But when he did, he brought out two dishes to the dining room. "Go get some of the other things, Cloud," he ordered as he, himself went back to get more.

"I was just going to do that, you know. Your faith in my manners is insulting." Sephiroth didn't feel to dignify that tidbit with an answer.

Sephiroth was a slow eater. He'd always have one plate of food, and that would be it. Cloud always had a plate, and then everything else while waiting for Sephiroth to finish. Unless Zack was present, and then the two fought over who would get to eat the last of what. Usually, that just ended in Sephiroth making more food.

"Hey Seph, how come you never take me out to eat somewhere nice anymore? I mean, your cooking's great and all, but I don't remember the last time we went out on a real date, you know."

"Yeah, but that's because you got us kicked out of that last place."

"Hey, don't you go blaming that on me," Cloud said, mouth half-full and wagging his fork. "_I_ wasn't the one fucking me in there!" He returned to his meal in mock-bitterness.

"I'll take you out to lunch and dinner tomorrow. I won't feel like cooking after the training we'll do. And I'll save money because you won't have enough energy to pick up your soup spoon."

Cloud's jaw dropped, and it was very fortunate that he had swallowed the last bit of mashed potato. "You were _serious!_"

"Like a proverbial heart-attack."

Cloud looked like he was about to murder his steak. If it were alive, he would have. He seemed to enjoy stabbing it many times with his fork. "Hate, hate, hate, hate..." He then bit into the mush he made of his steak, before returning to mauling it with his fork and his lovely chant.

"You should get a good night's sleep tonight, too, for preparation on tomorrow. So, after dinner, I want you to go straight to bed."

Cloud started poking his steak harder and faster. "HATEHATEHATEHATE," he said through gritted teeth. He finally stopped, not even bothering to finish the rest of his meal, and got up. He dabbed the edges of his mouth and put the napkin down, saying: "I love you," before storming off into the bedroom.

Sephiroth _really_ hadn't been kidding, Cloud realized, as his lover turned off the lights and didn't try anything to make Cloud know that he wasn't serious. He pouted under the covers. Then he remembered Sephiroth couldn't see him in the dark, and probably wasn't looking at him anyway, so he turned over and tried to fall asleep.

He was only slightly comforted by the arms that wrapped themselves around his shoulders.

It seemed like he hadn't slept a wink before he woke up. Even though he didn't feel tired, it felt like no time had passed from when he fell asleep to when he woke up. He heard the shower going on from the bathroom and looked at the clock. Apparently Sephiroth wanted them to be up early.

"Seeeeeph," he whined. "I don't even get up this early for class! Get back in bed!" Sephiroth pretended not to hear him, which only angered Cloud more. He got up and walked into the bathroom. "Come back to bed NOW!"

Sephiroth stepped out of the shower and started drying himself off. "Can't. We have to start work now, darling. You'll never pass your tests if you don't study harder. Isn't that what you want? To become a SOLDIER? I've indulged you too much; it's time you sit down and actually do something about your dreams."

"Maybe they were right. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a proper SOLDIER." Cloud sat down on a stool as he watched Sephiroth get dressed. He then grabbed a brush off the stand and started to brush through Sephiroth's hair.

"You have potential, Cloud. You just have to find it in yourself to continue on with what you start. I did, and now I'm general."

"Yeah, but you also know what you're doing. You know, I think I remember reading about that, when you became general. That seemed like it happened so long ago... I was like, seven?"

"...I really am too old for you."

"Don't say that."

"No, no. Cloud, I give up on our relationship. You're just too young... too boisterous. You give up too easily, too. I need someone who knows what they're doing with their life. Someone who doesn't dream about something for over half their life and then just give up on it when it becomes too hard." He took the brush from Cloud's hand and started brushing his hair for himself.

He bought it. "You can't possibly be saying that!" The look on his face was a heartbroken mess. Sephiroth thought he saw tears welling up in his eyes. "This is completely insane! It's the stupidest reason to break up with me! You could've at least said something like I annoy you, or I'm too fanatical, or that I'm bad in bed or something!"

He was silenced with a kiss. "You're also too gullible. But you get the point, don't you? So don't give up on me, because I know it would be a lot easier if I gave up on you... But at the end of the day, it'll be worth it to know you accomplished something."

"I hate you," Cloud muttered, pouting.

"I know," Sephiroth replied, kissing the mouth that Cloud had so presented to him. "Now come on, let's go make you wish you were dead."

"Or at least, never met you. You know, I really do think I liked you better when I was just staring at your pictures and reading about you. You couldn't guilt me into doing stuff when you were on paper."

"But you have to admit, I'm a lot better in bed when I'm real." Sephiroth smirked at Cloud's disgusted face and thought that his wrinkled nose was rather adorable. He "bopped" it with his finger and handed a sword to the boy.

The weight caused Cloud to fall. "This thing weighs a ton! How the hell am I supposed to lift it?" He tried to pick it up with both hands, and couldn't get the handle more than six inches off the floor.

Sephiroth picked it up with one hand and put it back down on its stand. "That is what you will be fighting with if you make it into SOLDIER. What have you been practicing with? I thought they issued wooden ones with spread-out weights?"

"...It's easier to wield if you take the weights off..." Cloud muttered.

Sephiroth thrust Masamune at him. "Fine, use that for now."

Cloud looked down at the twelve-foot long blade in his hands in amazement. To his surprise, it was extremely light for the length that it was. "But what're you gonna--" but before he could finish his sentence, he had to thrust out his arm to block Sephiroth's attack with the Buster Blade. This only resulted in his arm hurting like hell.

"Never let your guard down. There will always be surprise attacks and you have to make it instinct to fight against them. Your reaction was too slow and, from lack of mastery with the weapon, did not have a sufficient block. Here, I want you to stand like this." Sephiroth put the Buster Sword down and put his hands on Cloud to mold him into the stance. "You put more power into your block this way. Now I want you to get back to the way you were standing before and just practice moving quickly into that stance."

Cloud did as he was told, trying not to roll his eyes at a few comments that Sephiroth was saying about how his form wasn't this enough or too much of that. Finally, apparently Cloud was getting the hang of it enough for Sephiroth to attack him again. "I'm going to let you know about this one, okay?" Cloud nodded, and Sephiroth charged.

For a second try, first after a bit of learning, it wasn't so bad. He had blocked Sephiroth's attack, but his arm hurt more and he nearly fell over when Sephiroth pulled back. Cloud prepared himself for another attack, like he thought he would receive, but he didn't get one.

"You need more work. Also, as soon as you make contact, pull away. There's less impact that way. But brace yourself for another attack when you do. Were you paying attention in class at all?"

"...Yeah, for the first week or so..." Sephiroth sighed and rushed in for another attack. Cloud immediately blocked, and then, remembering Sephiroth's words, pulled away, just a little too slowly.

"It doesn't work that way," Sephiroth replied. "Come on now, you can't move onto offense unless you've done a bit of defense. Besides, you should give me something to be rewarding you for, remember?" He smiled and Cloud looked into his eyes, determined. "That's more like it."

He charged again, and for once, Cloud finally made a good block. It was below the standard that would be set for him, but they had time. Sephiroth tried attacking Cloud from another angle, and although a little clumsily, he did do another successful block.

The silver-haired warrior let the sword hang by his side as he took one hand and grabbed the other's chin, kissing him with a passion of seemingly unlimited energy. When he pulled away, it took Cloud a few seconds to remember where he was. "Now, do you want to see what you get for completely the rest of the exercises?"

Cloud opened his eyes slowly and his voice was weak when he replied yes.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur. After mastering his block and learning some other techniques, poses, and the like, he had moved onto parrying and then simple attacks. By the end, both of them were grinning ear-to-ear because of Cloud's progress.

"I think it's time we go eat dinner," Sephiroth said, putting down the Buster Blade. Cloud took the opportunity to rush at him, but he quickly turned around and stopped the blunt side of the blade with his hands. "Nice try," he stated as he parried with his palms. "But you're forgetting who I am and whose weapon you're wielding."

"Yeah, yeah. It was worth a shot. Besides, if I'd been successful, you'd be impressed, right? Even if I did knock you out or something."

Sephiroth laughed. "Don't flatter yourself." He took the sword from Cloud and placed it down, and then he took Cloud by the shoulders. "Come on, why don't you pick a place for us to go tonight?"

"All right, but this time? We're getting kicked out _after_ we're finished eating, okay?" The two of them started walking, laughing, talking, and kissing all the way to the restaurant.

The room was unseasonally warm when Cloud awoke. He realized he had been smiling when he was asleep, and he didn't particularly feel like getting out of bed. In fact, for a few minutes, he was trying to relay the dream as if it would come back and continue. Then he realized how pathetic that was and shot out of bed.

He wondered for a second why he had that dream. He also wondered why it was set when he had been in SOLDIER... And though Zack had never introduced him to Sephiroth, he wondered if that would have been the end result if he had.


	7. Chapter 06

"If you can hear me, I want you to know that I want you to come back," Cloud said as he looked up towards the ceiling. The feel of the air slightly turned his skin cold under his pajamas. "Damn."

Vincent staggered in, a little tired-looking. "Hn? It started raining so I called Cid and he said it was best if I stayed... You fell asleep pretty fast and I thought you'd like it better if you got to sleep on your bed. Don't worry, you weren't too heavy."

Cloud looked down and blushed. It had only happened one time in his life before, and he wasn't quite sure what Reno had done while he was unconscious, but he trusted Vincent far more than Reno, so there wasn't much question there.

"Thank you for staying," Cloud said. "You want some breakfast?"

"Nah, I'm just going to be on my way. I promised Cid I'd leave right after you woke up." He ran his hand through his hair and turned around, preparing to leave Cloud's house.

"Cid... does know that you're going to have to shower when you get home anyway, right?"

"He says he likes it better when I'm 'dirty,' or something. I am not entirely sure what he's trying to imply by that. Anyway, I'm going to be off before Cid misses me too much." With a yawn, Vincent turned around to leave.

Cloud sighed as he got up to make some coffee. He assumed that Vincent had made some before he woke up, and poured himself some. It was still hot, but not quite steaming, just how he liked it. He got out his milk and poured a little in, watching the lovely swirls it made in his coffee. Then he got out his sugar and stirred five teaspoons in.

He took a big sniff to feel the aroma, just like Sephiroth had done in his dream. Then he caught himself and found it rather ridiculous, as Sephiroth probably didn't even like his coffee that way in the first place.

With that in mind, Cloud drowned the entire mug in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with his arm and got back up to take a shower and get dressed and ready for his morning of... nothing.

He quickly finished up as he looked at his clock. Usually he wouldn't even be awake by then. He wondered why he had gotten up so early, or why he hadn't noticed. After all, the sky outside was still dark. He assumed that Vincent was going to be home soon.

Running fingers through his still-damp hair, he found that there were absolutely no tangles in his coif, for once. He closed his eyes and smiled into the sunrise that filtered in through his kitchen window, and also realized that it was open again. The floor was littered with leaves, even though it hadn't been a second ago.

Looking up into the sky, he muttered curses. "Thanks a lot; now I have to clean up my kitchen floor again. You know, you've got to stop doing that; you know I hate raking up the leaves!"

The wind whispered teases into his ear, and he held up a one-finger salute to it. Then he put his hand down and his expression softened. "Yeah, yeah, love you too. Now clean up my kitchen."

There was absolutely no effort for his kitchen to be fixed, no wind, no nothing. He sighed and pulled out a really big Ziploc bag from his drawer and started picking up the leaves, accidentally crumbling a couple.

When he was done, he took it outside to the trash, and saw a little dot coming towards him. He was wondering what exactly that was, and then he saw the shuriken. "Oh no," he groaned.

Yuffie finally made her way up to Cloud. "I've decided on something!" she yelled. "And hey, thanks for coming out and waiting for me. Anyway, the thing I've decided on is that I'm callin' a summit. You better go out and buy something to eat, because I'm sure that Tifa's going to be here anytime soon now. You know how she likes to be punctual, or more often, early."

"You called a summit at my house without telling me!" He looked somewhat frantic as he walked back into his house. "Why the hell would you do something as stupid as that!"

She followed really quickly after him, and barely missed the door slamming behind her. "It's not stupid. Besides, we have to discuss your problems and you know it! Without all the rest of us moving on, you have no chance of moving on, either!"

"...That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"It may be stupid, but I know for a fact that it works. I had a lot of summits with my friends on important decisions like... like when I broke my arm and wanted to see if I should let my friends sign my cast or if that would be tacky." She continued to tattle off a bunch of "important" things.

He held a hand up to stop her. "Alright, listen, fine. You can have all these friends over, and they can think I'm an idiot because I've got nothing prepared for a summit you've probably told them all that I've planned."

She looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry, was I supposed to say that I had planned it?" She tried digging her foot into the floorboards to look cute. Of course, that had never worked before, especially not with Cloud.

It didn't matter anyway, because within the next second or so, she was literally saved by the bell. Yuffie rushed to answer it to try and get on Cloud's good side (or, at least, to distract him) and smiled to Tifa and Vincent. "Cid called me while I was on my way home," Vincent said. "So..."

"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, and the bathroom's down the hall to the left," said Cloud. "I told you that you should have showered before you left."

"I didn't know you were going to call this meeting."

"You can blame Yuffie for that one."

"No!" Yuffie retaliated. "Don't blame Yuffie for anything!"

Tifa smiled outwardly to try and convince Cloud that she was happy, and she walked in to his living room to take a seat. Cloud didn't buy into it for one second, but decided to grin and act like he too, was okay with everything.

He walked back into his kitchen to put on some tea for the horde of people that were to visit him in the next hour or so. He felt like killing Yuffie, because of course, he didn't have enough proper food to cook. Of course, even with the proper materials, it wasn't like he could cook, anyway.

Soon, his friends were all at his door. After all, instead of having an "emergency," they had all been given a set time to arrive at Cloud's doorstep, and, in being that apparently it was an urgent matter, they had all been on time.

Cloud invited them all in with gritted teeth behind a grin, and explained to them all (under his breath) that this was really all Yuffie's idea. Barrett, actually, had surmised as much and brought a few snacks for everyone's benefit.

Yuffie busied herself by fluffing the pillows. Everyone took a seat and politely accepted the cups of tea being handed to them by Cloud. Well, everyone but Nanaki and Cait Sith.

As everyone settled themselves in, and all became rather quiet, Yuffie started to speak. "So... does anyone have any starting statements, or should I just go first? 'Cause, you know, I planned stuff to say, but it's not so important." This told everyone that she wanted to talk, but didn't want to sound like she was making up an excuse to rant to Cloud.

Nobody said a word to contest Yuffie, so she continued. "All right then. Let's begin. I would first and foremost like to say, I think that, and I'm deeply sorry for this, Cloud, that you are a psychotic. I read all about it! Psychotics are people who don't know that there's something really, really, really wrong with them, even though there totally is.

"Anyway, before you say anything, Cloud, I'm gonna explain to everyone else why. Firstly, I think you've gone insane because of all the traumatic experiences that you've experienced throughout your childhood and your adult life. Secondly, you've taken twenty-eight years of your life to finally realize your sexuality and that the man you're supposedly in love with is dead. Which, in my thought process, is just an excuse for us to leave him alone.

"Finally, you have become extremely antisocial. In fact, this is even worse than what you were like before, which was pretty bad. Cloud, none of us have heard from you in ages up until recently. That isn't healthy, because we're your closest friends. Anyway, that is what I had to say. Anyone else?" She stepped down, and although most of them had that thought floating around their heads, they never would've said it.

"I think we should give Cloud a chance to defend himself," Tifa said.

"No, I want to hear what you've all got to say first," he replied. It was silent. "No, I'm not kidding. I really want you all to voice your opinions. Yes, Yuffie, including you. I want you all to have a say before I speak next."

Since no one started speaking, Yuffie poked Tifa in the side. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll go next... Really, everyone, I don't see a problem with this. It's an obsession, but I think that it's a healthy one. It will pass soon enough, and then we can perhaps go back to how it used to be, except better, because Cloud will be rid of something that has been hanging over his head. We can all move on."

"This ain't no phase, Tifa," Barrett replied. "And it might recur, yanno. Like that whole dress-wearin' thing. Man, you got more issues than anyone could deal with; you should get yourself checked out. And I'm only sayin' this 'cuz I'm your friend; don't take it the wrong way."

"Cloud-san can do whatever Cloud-san wants!" Cait Sith said. "He's a man now, and he might be crazy, but he can make his own decisions because he's a big boy and he can do it! I have faith in him!"

"Yeah, well, I kinda think it's sweet." Everyone looked at Cid strangely, especially Cloud. This was not the type of reaction they had expected from the pilot. In fact, Yuffie had thought that Cloud's head would have been speared on a plate by now. Cid had really, really hated Sephiroth. "What? I do. Everyone deserves to find who it is they love."

"I think Cid's gone insane too," muttered Yuffie.

The room was silent for a bit, and then Yuffie nudged Nanaki. "I really don't have an opinion in this matter. I don't believe in love, only existence. Love is a controversial term that is too complex for anyone to understand."

Seeing as how that failed, the last person that could speak besides Cloud was Vincent. He took his cue. "I agree with Cid," was all that he said. Cloud looked at him with a glare that said: "I want the truth." Vincent had seemed to read Cloud's mind, because he stated absentmindedly: "It is the truth."

"Oh, that is so not the truth, Vinny! You're just siding with your boyfriend! You know, ever since you two got together, the both of you've been absolutely nuts! You crazy people should all get together and like, start a loony bin!"

"That's mean, Yuffie! They're not crazy; they're just... well, I dunno!" piped Cait Sith. He started bouncing up and down idly; it seemed to be somewhat of his screen-saver.

The wind suddenly blew past through the window by the door and a leaf hit Yuffie in the face. "Hey! What the hell was that!" she asked, waving her arms around as if she had been attacked unfairly.

Absentmindedly, Cloud muttered: "Sephiroth."

It was not exaggeration to suggest that everyone could hear each other ellipsing. "...Okay everyone, do you believe me now when I say that Cloud's gone off his rocker? Do you!"

"Give him a chance to explain himself!" exclaimed Tifa. "Go ahead, Cloud."

"Fine," he said. "I want you all to know, I am not surprised at the lack of confidence you have in me and my choices. I know they may not be the best ones, and I know... I know it all sounds crazy, but as crazy as it sounds, it's true. I'm sorry. You all have no idea what it feels like, and I can understand that, but would you please all at least try to see where I'm coming from?

"I know this is greedy. I know that this is something that I never should've done, or at least, should have done long ago as to not involve any of you in it. I know you're all doing this because you care, but it comes off to me as if you don't.

"Every morning, every night, I'm plagued. Haunted. It's like I'm resting, but I can never rest. And yes, I admit, it's driving me insane. All of it drives me insane. I've been having these dreams lately, and they're so real, but then I wake up and they're so far away from me. I'm sorry that I'm insane, it's really not something I can help."

Yuffie looked back at him. "I know this meeting is about you, but Cloud, life isn't about you. I know you've had tough times, but I want to be happy, too. Everyone wants to be happy, and in order for everyone to be happy, everyone's gotta sacrifice something. Even if it means sacrificing the one you love."

"No one," Tifa said firmly, "should have to sacrifice someone they love."

"Why are you on his side? I'm not the one who broke your heart; he is!"

"Because, Yuffie, I know how he feels! Even if we had been a happy couple for only a moment in life, that is completely fine with me. We've all given up a lot for everyone, but Cloud has especially. I think we should just leave him be for a little while, like he wants us to."

"I think we should help him," Cid said.

"How? How can you help me when some of the friends that I thought I was closest to don't even have my back? I don't need any help, all I need is a little peace and quiet." Cloud didn't realize he was on his feet until he had finished speaking.

The breeze warmed up, and blew faster, like a loving hand, brushed over his face. The rest of the party only felt it gently wizzing past their hair. "That..." Barret started, "is some creepy ass wind."

Cloud started to walk away, but Vincent placed a hand on his shoulder and slightly pushed down, gesturing for him to sit back down in his seat so he could finally get what he wanted. "Cloud," he said. "What is it that you most want?"

He thought for a moment. In looking at Vincent's eyes, he was met with a stare that he couldn't lie to. "I... I want him to come back." Those red irises changed as everyone fell to a silence that was staler than the rest had been. Even Vincent hadn't anticipated a response like that.

"I'm sorry, we can't do that," Tifa said. "You can't... bring back the dead, Cloud."

Yuffie refrained from her (now) somewhat-usual response of: "I told you he was crazy." She just sighed, and everyone got the picture. The only sound immediately after was that of Nanaki's clumsy ruffling through the bags of chips.

"We could do it," Cid said. "You know, because it wasn't hard for him to come back those other two times... 'slong as we can be sure he ain't crazy when we do it, we can accomplish that."

Yuffie shot him a look that said: "Cid, don't encourage Cloud to place his hopes and faiths in such a stupid and impossible idea." Cid shrugged in return and she wiped that expression off her face, as if no one would have noticed.

"I won't ask you to go out of your trouble to do something you don't want to for me," Cloud said. "In fact, I change my mind. What I want most right now, is some more sleep. So, if you will grant it to me, please do." Without waiting for a reply, he headed for his bedroom.

"We have to do it," Cid said.

"Why? Why would we do something so incredibly insane?" Yuffie asked.

"Cloud's done a lot for us," Tifa said. She sighed after a pause. "I'm never getting him back. He... ever since we were little kids... I never had him; I just hoped he'd never realize. But even if... even if he never loved me, I still love him, and it would be selfish of me to see him suffer the way he does."

"Besides," Vincent said, "If we find a way to resurrect Sephiroth, and he returns to us the way he was before... Even Cloud could not find a reason why we shouldn't send him back to his fiery grave."

There was a hum of agreement from everyone, except Yuffie, who was still trying to hold onto her case. "I can't believe you've all gone insane and forgot to tell me about it," she muttered. "But... you do have some points, and I would like to see Spiky happy for once. And, I do guess I owe him one," she admitted reluctantly.

"So, let's go tell Spiky the good news!" she exclaimed. She ran to his bedroom door and knocked on it. "Hey, Cloud! Cloooouuud! Wake up! I got a deal for you, okay? It requires you to answer me!"

He got up groggily and staggered to his door, fumbling to get the knob to turn. "Yeah?"

"Alright Spiky, here's the deal. In exchange for giving up the second thing that you said you wanted to spend time with us, we, as your good friends, have decided to try our hardest to grant you that first thing you most wanted."

"Nice try, Yuff," he said, closing his door.

She knocked on it harder. "CLOUD! I WASN'T KIDDING! Come out here and face me like a man! Come on! On my ninja's honor, I swear that we will try our hardest to bring back Sephiroth. Cloud!" Her look slackened at the futile attempt. "Cloud... I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to say the things I said. Cloud!" Nothing. "FINE! You want to make sure that I'm being honest! I... I swear... I swear on... MY MATERIA. HAH."

Cloud finally opened his door. "You really would do that all for me? Why?"

"Because Spiky, we love you. Okay, okay, and we owe you. And I kinda would like to know what it's like, you being happy and Sephiroth being not insane. But! We do have one condition. If he comes back and he's still hell-bent on destroying everyone, we can kill him, okay?"

"...Deal."

She jumped up and clapped her hands before running towards the others in the group, arms raised and spread like she was trying to fly. "Everybody, it's time to get to work! We're gonna revive Sephiroth! Ganbatte yo!"

"...Didn't you hate this idea five seconds ago?" Cloud asked, walking into his living room.

"I can change my mind, Cloud," she replied as her only defense.

"Yeah, that's what worries me," he said.

Tifa got up and brushed her skirt down. "Well, as long as we have that settled, I think this meeting is adjourned. Someone can organize the meeting next time, when we figure out a plan."

"Why can't we figure one out now?" asked Yuffie.

"Because, Yuffie," replied Tifa. "It's time for lunch."

"Take some of my gil," Cloud said. "There's a nice restaurant in Kalm past the materia shop. "I'm rather tired, so I'm going to go back to sleep."

"NAH UH! Cloud, it was part of our deal that you'd give up what you wanted most second in exchange for what you wanted most first. Therefore, you're spending the rest of the day with your lovely and very generous friends, got it?" Yuffie said in a dignified manner. Cloud had no choice but to oblige.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" asked Cloud.

"Well, how about we just go to that place you recommended? " Yuffie suggested. "Come on, it shouldn't be a hard decision. Anyway, we shouldn't dwell on such matters because we're wasting time that we don't have."

"She's right," Tifa said. "We only have you for a day, Cloud, and then we're all yours. " She smiled and playfully punched him in the shoulder, which wasn't exactly very nice of her because then it hurt.

Nevertheless, all eight of them headed off towards Kalm to have their well-deserved lunch. Cloud reached for his house keys and a handful of gold coins before closing the door after everyone had exited.

Yuffie challenged Nanaki to a race as she started running towards the blue dot at the middle of the horizon. Both of them were far ahead of the rest of the party, and Yuffie realized she really should not have challenged Nanaki to a race. She thought that perhaps she should have chosen Cait Sith instead.

"Hey! Wait for me! " yelled Tifa after them. She had recently developed an instinct to watch over Yuffie, who had been the youngest. Even though Yuffie was then twenty-three, she still regarded her as the sixteen-year-old girl they had stumbled across while on their way to Nibelheim.

Suddenly, it seemed like everyone had decided to follow suit and run forward, each pushing themselves to try and win. Even Vincent had decided to participate in the escapades of the party.

The blue dot got bigger and bigger and they all finally made it to Kalm, breathless and tired. "We..." Yuffie started, "are so... out... of shape..."

"Speak for yourself," replied Nanaki. "But if you're all tired, I guess that I shall go and get us seating," he stated. He didn't even seem to be breathing harder than he had started. He walked into the restaurant that Cloud had recommended and said there was seating for eight. He hated being excluded from the table.

The others made their way slowly in as they walked over to the booth where Nanaki was situated at, Yuffie taking the seat to his left and starting to play with his mane.

Cloud hurried up the process and ordered a pitcher or big bottle of all the drinks they had to offer, except the coconut juice, which Barrett was firmly against in ordering, saying that he was allergic to it. No one contested this, even though in truth, he probably just didn't like the smell.

"I'll have the steak. No! Wait, I'm on a diet. Oh, but today's a special occasion... hmm... You know what, I'll go for the steak. Oh, no! You have lobster here? Oh wait, but that's too expensive..." Yuffie had wanted to place her order first, and the waiter was already worried that each of them would behave the way she did.

"It's okay, Yuffie. Order whatever you want. Order the most expensive thing on the menu if you want. Battle Monsters carry around more gil than they ought too, anyway," Cloud replied.

"Fine, in that case, I'll have the lobster," she said in all her dignity, folding the menu with a slap, and gracefully extending her arm to the waiter to retrieve. "Thank you, dahling."

"I'll just have the side salad and a small vegetable soup," Tifa said. "No dressing, please." She handed the menu to the man and looked back at Cloud, who was looking at her in an odd manner. "What? I'm not hungry today."

Barrett, Red XIII, and Cid ordered steaks and Vincent ordered a grilled chicken. Cait Sith ordered a tall watermelon juice because he liked the color, and also the play umbrella that came with it.

"I'll have the Wutaian spicy bean curd with sprouts, please." After his order, he returned his attention to his friends. "So, in attempts for you all to find out what's been going on in my life these past few years, none of you give any intimation on what you yourselves have been up to. How about you, Yuffie? In these last five years, has anything significant happened?"

"Of course not! If it had, I would've called you about it," she replied as if he was being stupid about the whole thing. "I've just been traveling as usual. You know, like I did before I met you guys. Still, I haven't found anyone quite as interesting as you lot."

"Well, obviously," Tifa stated, "since we are the most interesting people on the planet. We are a representation of the entire planet. Everywhere from Midgar to The Gold Saucer to North Corel to Rocket Town to Cosmo Canyon to Wutai to Nibelheim."

"Yeah!" Cait Sith chimed in. "All we need now are people from Mideel and Junon and Gongaga and Bone Village and--"

"I don't think that's what she meant," Cloud interrupted. "In any case, our food's here." None of them had even noticed and some looked embarrassed as they reached for their plates. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Yuffie reached over and took a little steak and a slice of mushroom off Nanaki's plate. "What? Don't look at me like that; you can have some of my lobster. You have had lobster before, right?"

"And you two?" he directed towards Cid and Vincent.

"You've never had lobster!"

"Nothing terribly exciting. Unless, of course, you want extreme detail, in which I am sure would have caused you to pay for these meals for absolutely no reason. Well, except ours, obviously," Vincent said without a second thought.

"I tell you, everyone's gone nuts."

"Wow! Cloud, you're already finished?" Tifa looked at his plate with astonishment. It was completely cleaned and looked sparkling, even. "You've never eaten anything that fast before," she commented. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"I... uh, am not entirely sure," he replied. "I must have been starved."

"Well then, order something else," Yuffie suggested. "I suggest the lobster! It's amazingly soft. Oh, or you could just order a huge dessert! There's nothing like a whole lot of sugar to make you happy."

"No, I'll just... watch you guys eat," he replied.

"Nonsense, Cloud. If yer worried about the bill, I'll pay it," Barrett offered.

"It's not that. I don't feel like eating anymore." Cloud put his arms behind his head and reclined into the soft seat. "Maybe I'll have a dessert with you all though," he added, as he leaned back up to pour himself a cup of tea.

"You know, we should all get you like, tea or something for your birthday. You like, inhale it. Oh man, we missed your last birthday, didn't we? We missed Vinny's, too... hold on." Yuffie dug into her pocket and pulled out a ring she had one at the Golden Saucer and a tiny notepad whose cover was doodled all over. "There! ...I'll get you guys real gifts later."

Both of them, unsurprisingly, politely declined to not only the temporary gift, but also the permanent one. Yuffie, in return, rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered. "Can't you just put away those giant egos for a second?"

"Now you know if they did that, they'd plummet all the way back down to the Planet and we'd have to admit them to the emergency room," Tifa said. "Or waste a lot of energy trying to heal the wounds. And then they wouldn't be pretty anymore because of the awful scarring."

"Oh, you're probably right. Besides, they'd probably just angst more, and everyone knows that we've seen far too much of that already. Especially you two. God, lighten up! You've got one life to live, so live it!" Yuffie pointed to herself and extended her chest. "That's my motto; that's my advice."

"Yeah, yeah," Cloud replied. "Easier said than done."

"Well, I just so happened to have forgotten that you're _old_ now," she said. "Yeah, you're only two years away from hitting the big three-o. That's gotta hurt somewhere down there in your inner child."

"Yeah, but you know, Sephiroth would be... thirty seven by now if he hadn't died. I think that, if or when we bring him back, he'll still look like he's twenty five," Cloud stated. "That will certainly be interesting."

"Oh yeah, Sephiroth..." Yuffie trailed off, rather disappointed-sounding. "Yeah, well, when he comes back, not if, but when, I bet he'll be just as pretty as when he left us. I mean, he had really nice hair for a guy..."

Tifa looked proudly at Yuffie as if to say: "Nice save." "Yeah, he was always groomed. Actually, I kinda always liked the color of it. And no matter what, it always seemed to sway..."

Yuffie smiled back in response to the look she had been sent.

Before they could order anything else, the waiter came over with the bill. "We haven't had dessert," Cloud said after him, but the rest of the party argued that they didn't want dessert anyway, so he just paid it. "Fine, but you're letting me buy you all ice cream."

There was a unanimous agreement to this, and all of them got up from the table to leave. "Well, you were right. This place was kind of nice," Tifa commented. "I uh, like the décor."

"You don't have to pretend like you had a good time," Cloud replied. "After all, I have the rest of the day to redeem myself, don't I?"

With that said, the whole party, reformed again, started walking towards the exit to see what the rest of the day had in store for them.


	8. Chapter 07

"Hey Cloud, wake up! You're going to be late for your first day of class!"

As the blond teenager slowly lifted his head from the pillow, he crashed into the bottom of the top bunk. Clothes were thrown at him. "Ugh, I forgot about these damn bunk beds," he muttered. "What time is it?"

"Five. Come on, I waited until after I got all my stuff done to wake you up. Tomorrow you're waking at four with me. Unless you get night duty, but I don't think they'll give that to you on your first day. Anyway, put on your clothes 'cause you have to get all the way across the building for your first class. What? I looked at your schedule."

"Yeah, yeah, Zack..." Cloud got out of bed carefully, still rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh, why the hell do they make us wake up this early? It's not healthy..." He reluctantly and ineptly slipped into his uniform; he had forgotten to pack pajamas and had slept in his underwear.

"And remind me that after you're done, we're going to go celebrate by drinking all night! After buying you some pajamas, though. Wait, no. We're going to buy your pajamas after the drinking because chicks don't dig guys who carry around shopping bags... or maybe they do. Or maybe they'll think we're gay. And together. Do you think they'll think we're together? All right, all right. I have a plan. When I walk in the club, you wait five minutes--"

"--Zack, I'm sure that I'll want to come home and fall asleep by the end of class. Thanks for the gesture, though." He walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth, glad that he had taken incentive to shower the previous night so he wouldn't have to wait in the line all morning.

"Yeah, well, Cloud, we have to celebrate! Besides, I want you to meet a friend of mine. He walks around like he owns the place. Well, he almost does... but that's really not the point. Anyway, I've been meaning to take him out too, because the most exciting thing in his life right now is paperwork. Man, the guy doesn't even have to train. Lucky bastard." Zack shoved a bagged lunch at Cloud. "Most of the food in the cafeteria moves."

"You're going to have to tell your friend that I can't come meet him. I'm sorry, I hate to be rude but... I don't think I'll get used to this type of schedule for a few weeks. I need some time to adjust. I can't be falling asleep in class tomorrow, especially not hung-over." Cloud took the bag, muttering a few words of gratitude as he reached for his new boots to lace on.

"Yeah, well, I told him you were coming. And man, I had a lot of trouble convincing him that you were okay, and if I tell him you're not, he might just kill me. Dude, I'm not even kidding."

"Is that why you were on your phone all night? I was wondering why you were yelling... Why didn't you ask me?" Cloud finished and got up, checking himself over to make sure he was presentable.

"Yeah, well, you looked real cute asleep and I didn't want to ruin that. Anyway, if you don't want to go that badly, I'll just call him and cancel. I thought you'd like to meet him, too. He's real high up in the SOLDIER hierarchy... He could get you in a nice position."

"Well, I don't think I'll make a good impression to my higher-ups if my first day of class, I stay up all night getting drunk trying to suck up. He's probably not all that high up anyway, if he thinks he can get plastered and still work the next day."

"Nah, Cloud man, don't be talking about him like that. He's the best SOLDIER ShinRa's ever seen," Zack said.

"...No, Zack, Sephiroth is the best SOLDIER ShinRa has ever seen, living or dead." He looked at Zack like he was an idiot who didn't know what the hell he was talking about, which, most of the time, would have been correct.

Zack returned the favor, naturally. "Yeah, Cloud... who the hell did you think I was talking about? My mom? It's okay though. Like, I understand. A lot of people don't like him because they think he's really cold and-- Cloud, are you okay?"

"S...Seph...Sephiroth? You... you really could take me to see Sephiroth? And... AND YOU THOUGHT I'D DECLINE THAT ONCE IN A LIFETIME CHANCE? WHAT, ARE YOU INSANE!" Cloud swung his arms as if he was about to fly, which looked idiotic but he got the point across.

"Uh. Sorry?" Zack laughed nervously. "So I'll call him and tell him you can make it after all, right?"

"Yes, of course! Zack, the entire reason I've decided to become a part of SOLDIER is so I can be like Sephiroth. He's like, my idol. Man, if I got to unpack my stuff, you would definitely know how much of a fan of his I am..." Cloud kept rambling and rambling about how he would never willingly have passed up an opportunity to meet Sephiroth, even if he was to lose an arm or something. "Especially in such a casual environment... oh my god, it's like I'm his equal!"

"...We're all human, Cloud," Zack said, all the while with an eyebrow arched.

"...OH MY GOD, YOU KNOW SEPHIROTH!" It had taken awhile to sink in, and Zack would use that against him later many times, but Cloud's brain had been overloaded with a lot of information.

"Hey, Seph--?"

"Ohmigodisthathim?" he whispered.

"--I just wanted to tell you that Cloud can make it, okay? Yeah. Uh huh. No, no, it's fine. I'm paying this time. And I won't purposely forget my wallet so you'll have to pay but it looks like I tried... Man, you know what they pay me. No, no! I didn't mean that; I'm still paying. Besides, the tyke can't even drink yet, so he's just entrance fee and water. Oh, and Cloud may have to leave early. You know the way they are with the cadets. Yeah, I know he shouldn't even come in the first place... Cloud, stop tugging my sleeve! Well, he deserves some fun before the hard part starts. I knew you'd understand." Zack hung up to find a rather angry boy looking at him.

"He probably thinks I'm a lazy dork."

"Nah, he'll probably believe you if you said you really didn't want to come. He knows me too well. Besides, now you have an alibi and a night out on the town. It'll be fun, but don't get lost and don't follow Sephiroth anywhere because I swear he doesn't even know how to get from here to the nearest noodle house." Zack looked back at the clock. "Cloud, you've got ten minutes to sprint from here to the other side of the building."

Like a bullet, he was off. After all, he had something to look forward to at the end of the day, and if he was going to slack off the following day, he thought that he might as well make a good first impression.

---

"Hey, Cloud, I really don't want to be the one to tell you this..." started Zack. "But... Sephiroth called and he said he couldn't make it tonight, so it's just going to be us two. I hope you aren't disappointed."

His face fell. He had already made an agreement and now he was losing precious time of sleep to hang around while Zack probably went off to go find himself a "babe" to go screw.

Zack pulled out his camera phone and took a shot. "There, that one's for the record. Anyway, he can come. Luckily, you can see your face and I have it forever! Really Cloud, you're so gullible."

Cloud looked murderous, and instead of apologizing, Zack took another shot. "Seriously, you'd make a good model for artists because your face is so expressive. All right, all right! Stop! Hey, that tickles! Stop!" He fell to the floor laughing as Cloud tickled faster. After all, he definitely couldn't overtake Zack by force.

Both of them barely heard the clearing of a throat that was too deep to be either of theirs. Cloud looked up, and immediately his face paled. He jumped up quickly off of Zack. "Sir, it's not what it looks like. We were... trying out new battle techniques!" After all, Sephiroth's work was his life, and he took training very seriously, or so Cloud had read.

"...The only quality I dislike more than laziness," Sephiroth stated, "is dishonesty." Cloud's face fell to the ground, and he was beginning to think that the whole night was going to be one big disaster.

"Aw, come on, Seph. Don't be like that; you'll scare away all the new recruits that way. Seriously though, we've got to get a move on, and Cloud, you're not dressed. Sephiroth, neither are you."

"...What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" both of them asked simultaneously. Cloud's had been spastic, whereas Sephiroth's had been lackadaisical. Cloud fought the urge to yell: "jinx!"

"Well, Cloud, what you're wearing..." he tried to find a nice way to say it. "Makes you seem like you're not a local, and the pickpockets like people like that. And, Sephiroth... you wear that same damn thing every single day."

"I don't have any clothes that aren't like this," Cloud answered. Zack held up a gesture for him to wait, and he walked over to his closet where he pulled out something that was a little too big for him and something that was a little too small.

Neither of the receivers liked their new clothes.

"Zack, you can't honestly expect me to wear this. I might as well go shirtless," Sephiroth said. Zack shrugged, as if to say: "Yeah, well, you might actually get laid with that, then." Sephiroth shot him a dirty look.

Cloud decided not to argue as he went into the bathroom to change. He was okay being in his underwear around Zack, but when he saw that Sephiroth's body definitely had not been done justice by the pictures in the newspapers, he felt like the scrawniest kid alive.

"We don't have all night! Besides, we have to go buy you those pajamas, remember? You don't want to get there and find all they have left are pink, frilly nightgowns, because you're going to have to wear that to sleep. And then I'm going to take pictures! And give them to the girls in Wallmar--"

Cloud slammed the bathroom door opened as he tugged to finish the tying of his old sneakers. "Don't you dare; I've heard things about that place. Those people are fucking crazy, in my opinion. I don't want anything to do with them."

"Yeah, I'm not the one with a mullet," Zack said.

"It's a rattail!"

"You take it out of the ponytail holder, and it's a mullet."

"I did not come over here to spend the night listening to you two argue about hair," Sephiroth said coldly. "So, if you would please, I would like to get a move on. Besides, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what I am wearing and it might even be to your benefit. All of Midgar knows my name, after all."

"Yeah, that's kind of why I'm worried. Ever heard of fans? They get kind of crazy sometimes. Especially the girls. They'll cling to you and tackle you and you know, for people half your weight, they're pretty damn strong."

"Either way, I'm not changing." Sephiroth turned around. "So are you following, or should I go back to my quarters again?"

Cloud, not wanting to disappoint Sephiroth even more than he thought he had all ready, ran after him and tried to walk at his stride. "Come on, Zack, you were the one complaining about the time."

Zack rolled his eyes and started walking after he locked the door. "What did I tell you? Don't follow Sephiroth around, he doesn't have any idea where he's going once he's out of the ShinRa building!"

Zack ran to catch up to the both of them anyway. "Geez, don't ditch me! This was my idea! I refuse to be your third wheel! Do you hear me!" He hit Cloud over the head, and his wrist was bent behind his back when he tried the same on Sephiroth.

"Wait, wait! We have to go buy Spikey some jimjams first." Zack ran in front of them to turn a corner into a clothing shop.

"Zack, I think we came into the wrong place. This shop is for women's sleep clothes. Maybe the one you were looking for is actually down the street or something, or just looks like this place..." Cloud kept suggesting different scenarios, until Zack decided on something and held it up.

"Nope. Look, see, I think this one would look nice. And before you say anything, it's not a thong. It's a manthong." Zack smiled smugly, as if he had said something incredibly smart instead of incredibly stupid.

"I think I would just rather wear the underpants I currently own to bed," Cloud said. "Seriously Zack, is there anything here that actually gets to my thighs? Or at least, covers my ass!"

Zack rolled his eyes and threw a pair of blue cotton pajama pants at him. "There, happy? If you're going to survive with me, Spikey, you're going to have to learn how to take a joke." With that, Zack walked over to pay for them.

"Hey, shouldn't I try them on first?"

"Nah. My last girlfriend had your figure. She was about your height, too. You should be able to fit into these." Cloud wasn't sure whether or not he should've been insulted by that comment.

A few mishaps later, all three finally managed to be standing outside the club. The neon lights blinded Cloud, but to Zack and Sephiroth, they were rather natural looking. The raven-haired boy winked to the bouncer and pointed to the other two before sashaying right in.

"THIS PLACE IS REALLY CROWDED," Cloud commented, hands up to his mouth in attempts to make his voice louder. "AND REALLY, REALLY LOUD. ZACK? I THINK MY EARS ARE BLEEDING."

"YOU'RE PROBABLY THE ONE CAUSING THEM TO BLEED, NOW WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?" came the reply.

Apparently Sephiroth had tried to communicate to them both that he had found an empty table, but neither of them heard it because they were too busy arguing with each other, so he took them by their collars and dragged them to it.

"Well, this is nice," Cloud said. "And somewhat quieter. Or maybe I've just gone deaf but am so used to hearing myself talk that I can listen to myself. Does that make any sense? Am I rambling?"

"Cloud, if you can hear me, shut the fuck up," Zack replied. "I'm gonna get some drinks. You two want anything?"

"I'm underage," Cloud said.

"Nothing, thanks," Sephiroth replied. Even his simple words were full of grace.

Zack shrugged. "Fine, and if I don't come back in the next five minutes, don't come looking, if you know what I mean." With a wink, he was off into the big crowd of people, and not even Sephiroth had the right mind to go after him.

"Do you think he'll return within five minutes?" asked Cloud.

"No. I think he was trying to get rid of us, actually." Sephiroth rested his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "So... you don't seem like the nightclub type. Why did you agree to come?"

"Actually," Cloud looked down and shuffled his feet for a second. "It's kind of embarrassing. I only wanted to come tonight to meet you, and I can't even come up with something clever to say."

Sephiroth tried not to laugh, but at the same time, was a little bit intrigued. "I'm flattered to know you actually care enough to act upon it. Usually I get stalkers or people that actually have enough nerve to speak a word don't make coherent sense." Cloud was still looking down, and he sighed. "Please, look at me when you talk. It lets me pretend that I'm normal for a few seconds."

Cloud did as he was told. "Yes, sir. I mean, Sephiroth. Um..." He tried to think of something that he'd talk about with anybody. He found it hard to come up with something that wouldn't be completely stupid, so he started out with a basic. "How are you feeling?"

"...Fine. I'm bored out of my skull. You?"

"Well, I'm kind of excited. Except I'm not a very good cadet, and I may not make it. But someday, I want to be just like you, so I suppose that if I train hard enough, I can do it. Well, that's what you said, anyway."

"I did?"

"Yes," Cloud replied. "When you were fourteen years old, in an interview with 'Midgar Weekly'. The reporter asked you what advice you had for your fans, and you said 'if you put your mind to it, you can achieve it,' or something."

"...Right. I think I might be a little bit correct in saying that I find it creepy that you know more about me than I do, myself. But that's not important, because it doesn't really surprise me anymore. The fans, I mean."

"Oh, yes. Sorry... I can't help it. I just... it's different, seeing you in real life. The... the pictures don't do you justice. Oh, but I'm doing that again, aren't I? The part where I worship you and you get annoyed? I'll stop."

"Thank you, you're very considerate."

"So, um..." He tried to think of something else; something that he didn't already know about Sephiroth. "Now that you're General... what goal have you set for yourself for afterwards?"

"I... hadn't really thought about that. I guess I just forgot to. I don't think I planned ahead of becoming General." Sephiroth was rather bemused by this question, and impressed at how well Cloud knew his younger self.

"Well, you could... You could help me become a SOLDIER! Now that you're done with yourself, you could make me your protégé." Cloud knew the answer was probably going to be a flat-out "no," but decided that it was worth a shot.

"Fine. You've got the drive; now show me you have the potential."

"What?" Cloud was surprised beyond measure. He had been the skinniest boy in Nibelheim, and all the jokes the others had played were at his expense. There was no way Sephiroth could be accepting his offer.

"I said if you show me that you've got the potential to become a ShinRa General, I'd take you on." Sephiroth smirked a little at Cloud's face. He wished that Zack had still been around with his phone to take a picture.

"Th... thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me; oh my go-- sorry. It's a habit." Cloud stopped talking and there was an awkward silence for a bit. "So, you want me to try something now or what?"

"It's okay. I'll let you know by the end of the week whether or not you're fit to be my student." He knew, just by the expression on his face, that Cloud knew he probably didn't have it within himself. It wasn't the first heart he'd broken, anyway.

Just then, a waiter walked over with two beers. "Some guy with black hair sent these to you t-- Are you The Great Sephiroth? Wow... you're so tall in real life... I can't believe I didn't know it was you when he said to take it to that table with the silver-haired guy... Wow... you're incredible!" He kept going and going, and Sephiroth was getting more and more irritated, but he couldn't just say: "Fuck off."

Cloud felt sorry for him... Especially since the waiter would not go away after what seemed to be an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds. The waiter talked fast. He decided he was lucky that his mother had bought him the cheapest cell phone imaginable, because it was so big that it looked more like a tape recorder. "How rude! We were in the middle of a very important interview, and now you've caused me to lose my train of thought. I knew we should have gone to the place next door. Their staff members are not quite as unobservant." It amazed even himself how well he was able to keep a straight face.

"I'm so sorry; I wasn't thinking," the waiter said, looking apologetic and backing away. "You know what? Those drinks? Paid for. Anything you want from this bar; I'll pay it." It would score him major points with his boss if this got out to the public and more people started coming. The raise would pay for the loss.

"Thank you," Sephiroth said when the waiter was out of their sight. "I thought he was never going to leave." He then pointed to Cloud's cell phone and raised a brow. "What is that, anyway?"

"Well, it's sort of... my phone..." Cloud said, embarrassed. "I know it's not state of the art or anything, and it's huge and clunky, but it works! And it might not actually record stuff, but... I like the color?"

At that, Sephiroth laughed. It was odd; Cloud had never made Sephiroth out to be someone who laughed. Ever. "Remind me to buy you a new cell phone before the week is over."

"No! That's not necessary. I never use mine anyway, and I don't have a name to sign it under and I couldn't pay you the bill even if I did use it and I'd probably lose it anyway and--"

"Just think of it as a favor. They pay me too much, anyway." Besides, then maybe Cloud wouldn't think he was a complete jerk after he told him that there was no way he could be a great warrior.

Cloud didn't know what to say, so instead he just decided on something that he knew would be safe. "Thank you." With that, he took up his beer mug and decided to change the subject. "Doesn't he remember that I'm fourteen?"

"Apparently not," Sephiroth replied.

"Would you like mine?"

"I think it would be rather awkward for me to have two drinks and you to have none."

"That's all right. I'm not thirsty." Cloud put his mug of beer next to Sephiroth's. Although he had been drunk countless times before in trying to prove that he wasn't a coward, he wasn't about to divulge that he wasn't a good boy.

"Do you think you'll have any other plans after you become a SOLDIER?"

"No. I haven't really thought that far ahead. I think that I should be focused on this one goal, and when I'm finished with that, I'll let you know what I think afterward. Besides, I may never achieve the position," Cloud said. "And I know that."

"...You're starting to sound like me."

"I know. It's a habit." Cloud looked up at the man and then at an already empty glass. "I know you said that you didn't have any more goals to take care of, but in that interview, you said you'd never settle down until you reached becoming General. So now that you're done with that, do you ever think you'll get married?"

"No. I don't think I can imagine myself with children, or even a wife. I'm not a very familial type of person. I guess it's because I never had anyone to teach me how to be one."

"Yeah, I know. I kind of thought it was cool that you didn't know who your parents were. I mean, not that that's a good thing, but it's just... I don't know who my father is, either. The closest thing I had to a father figure was someone to respect and look up to. I don't think you'd apt to me calling you 'dad' anytime soon, though."

Surprisingly, Sephiroth laughed again. "No, I really wouldn't. After all, Zack's enough to take care of as it is," he said. "He's another reason I don't want children. They'll probably start calling him 'uncle Zacky' and end up being lazy and womanizing."

"Yeah, I guess Zack isn't someone you'd want hanging around your kids for too long. And then you'd have to retire... You can't raise your kids in an environment like ShinRa..."

"But I wouldn't know another way to raise kids. It was how I grew up."

"I'm sorry; I forgot. I mean, I didn't forget, but I just... I'm sorry." Cloud looked back down and shuffled his feet some more, because he just couldn't go for ten minutes without saying something incredibly stupid and it annoyed him.

"It's all right." The waiter from before noticed the empty mugs and came back with two more. Sephiroth waved him away to acknowledge his presence, but did no more than that. "You should stop acting like I'm better than you."

Cloud looked up, eyebrows furrowed. "But... how? I mean, I can act like I don't know more than I should about you, but I can't pretend that you're not someone that I've admired since before I could read."

"How about this... I'm still me, and you're still you, but we're friends. And this club... is just somewhere we go every week. Zack drags us here, he goes off, and we talk about how your training's going and how my paperwork's coming along. Zack's been recently promoted to Major and you're a SOLDIER, first class. Then what?"

"Then... I'd say we'd be living in a utopia. But can we say that Zack's a colonel and I'm a major?" Cloud looked hopeful at this.

"Sure. We can also say Zack's married with three kids, and finally grew up. I won another war, and it turns out that Professor Hojo was a spy for the other side, so he was drawn and quartered last week. And you... you found out who your father was, and it turns out he's insanely wealthy and has been searching for you for the last couple of years. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like we should move ShinRa to Costa del Sol. And we get seven weeks vacation a year. No, eight. The weather's always warm and calm. Zack's oldest child is five, and I'm about to get married. Yeah, because I want children. Ten of them."

"Are you naming any of them after me?"

"Yes! All of them!" Cloud laughed at his comment. "Sephiroth can be the name of my firstborn. And then Seph, Sephy, Roth, Phiroth, and Sephira, Phira, Rothy, Sephirina..." He ticked each and every one of them off on his fingers. "The last once... can be Sephirette."

"They're all going to hate you," Sephiroth said. "And so will your wife."

"Only because she'll want to name another five after you, but we'll already have been too old to have anymore kids. Well, she will be. I'll never be too old to have kids," Cloud added.

Another round of drinks came for the two as Sephiroth started on another one. "Yeah, well, they're all still going to hate you. Zack's kids will probably hate him, too. Knowing him, their names will be Zack Junior, Zackary, and Zackarias."

"Well, at least their names aren't so unfortunate as say... uh... Bugenhagen, or..."

"...Yazoo?" suggested Sephiroth.

"Yeah! Wow, that is an unfortunate name..."

After a lot of more conversation about futures, Sephiroth had gotten through what seemed to be an endless amount of beers. Cloud had been too caught up in the conversation to notice, and the guy from before cleared their table quite regularly.

"You know, I think I like you," Sephiroth said. "Which is weird, because usually, I hate everybody." Aside from being something that he wouldn't say, Cloud didn't really notice that Sephiroth showed any sign of being drunk. Besides, some of the things Sephiroth had said and done all night had surprised Cloud a little.

"Well, maybe I'm not as annoying as everyone else," Cloud suggested. "Or maybe you just have the opposite thought process as everyone back home. Yeah, I think the latter's it."

"Nah, they were probably just all jealous. That happened to me a lot when I was your age, you know..."

"Yeah, but you had something to be jealous about. Skill." Cloud was starting to catch on that Sephiroth was drunk, but it wasn't like he really had a concern about that. Zack was probably drunk as well, and then the following morning, Sephiroth and Zack would have hangovers.

Zack came over just then. "All right, we're going to leave now," he said.

"Why? Have all the girls shot you down?" asked Cloud.

"...Shut up, Cloud."

The three of them left the club because Zack couldn't get laid and Sephiroth and Cloud weren't really discussing anything important anyway. So it seemed that the night had been, if not fun, at least amusing for all three.

"Zack, did you have anything to drink?" asked Cloud, who was surprised at how sober Zack sounded.

"Uh, only the ones that were thrown at my face, but yeah. That would add up to a few, I guess. Man, I need to get on a mission to another city where the girls don't know my face or reputation."

"Good luck finding one," Sephiroth said.

Just then, a citizen ran up in a fit of anger that seemingly came out of nowhere, and struck Sephiroth on the head with something hard. Sephiroth had been too off-guard to notice until the very last second, and Zack, even though he felt it, had a slow reaction time because he hadn't really been expecting an attack out of nowhere. Cloud hadn't even seen it coming.

Actually, it was a pretty good hit and before the guy could run away, Zack grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, before proceeding to kick his ass. Meanwhile, Cloud had caught Sephiroth rather unsuccessfully, because Sephiroth was far heavier than Cloud could manage.

Zack pushed the guy away, leaving him with a few broken bones, a black eye and a bloody lip. "Well, that was interesting, and kind of random." He was met with a blue-eyed glare.


	9. Chapter 08

It had been a few months since they had begun the project. At first, it had been a hard thing to begin because there were no remnants of Sephiroth left. Kadaj had faded, as had Yazoo and Loz. The last known part of Jenova had been her neck, and that had been absorbed by Kadaj.

For someone who had been resurrected more times than anyone would imagine, Sephiroth seemingly did not want to make it easy to get himself revived for the third time, which really pissed everyone off.

Actually, it had been interesting to see everyone progress, because Yuffie was the one most upset about the whole thing not working, and not Cloud. Inwardly, everyone knew that Tifa had been glad.

As time progressed, things became easier. They hadn't picked a theory to stick to, and Cloud had said that they should just give it up, and he was very happy that they had attempted to make him happy. Yuffie, however, was determined. Cid and Barrett said that they wouldn't give up because it would hurt their pride too much. Tifa had managed to convince Johnny to help them with the project, and also realized that his and her relationship was much healthier than hers and Cloud's had been.

Cloud knew that his soul was with him, but he didn't know how to cultivate it. He also was sure that nobody wanted to be possessed by Sephiroth and that try to reanimate dead body cells was a pretty useless thing to do.

Even Aeris and Zack had decided to get involved. It had taken them awhile to be able to communicate with Cloud, because Cloud refused at first to speak to Aeris. If she had never loathed him before, he had mused, she definitely had much more reason to loathe him then.

Still, of the whole crew, none of them had seen Cloud happy. In fact, very few of them had seen Cloud smiling, ever. They had all found themselves and found happiness, or at least a life they were content with. Now, they were all bent on doing the same for their friend, pushing whatever bad feelings they had aside. After all, after the entire thing was finished, they had their lives to fall back on and be happy with. Cloud did not.

Besides, after a few months had gone, they had seen Cloud progress from his solitude and depression. All the friends again were together, in their own little reunion, and it seemed that things had never been closer-knit between them.

Cloud had even been present at the holiday party that Yuffie had thrown, which he had always called in sick to avoid before. Not only that, but he had bought the best gifts for absolutely everyone.

It had been confirmed that Sephiroth was living in purgatory. He had not made it to the afterlife, which actually, was a big white void. However, Jenova had, and that had been confirmed by Cloud. She was therefore, completely out of the picture for the resurrection. Actually, that had been viewed as a good thing, considering that they definitely did not want to refer to her as a last resort.

It also seemed that Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz really hadn't existed, because they never made their presence clear to anyone. Still, there was a possibility that they just didn't want to make themselves known, but all of them were absolutely positive that all three would have wanted to be involved with the resurrection of their beloved oldest brother. After all, he had been their mother's favorite.

The snow was beginning to melt and the weather became warmer when their discussions became less about Sephiroth and more about daily life. Their meetings were less focused on the revival and more about nothing in particular.

In fact, the subject then turned into Tifa and Johnny's engagement. After their marriage, they promised to legally adopt Denzel. They hadn't been allowed to previously, because they hadn't been married. Everyone seemed to have moved on.

But Yuffie told herself not to give up, and one day, she slammed her fist on the table and said that they had gone off on such a tangent that they had completely forgotten what exactly their point and purpose had been in the first place, anyway.

Cloud had wanted to calm her down, quelling her by saying that it really didn't matter anymore because he was truly happy now. No one bought that, and instead, were more determined than ever to revive their once enemy. Even Tifa had put aside her hate wholeheartedly and realized it wasn't a phase, and it was something Cloud really did want, and not just sort-of wanted.

"We're not getting anywhere," Yuffie said. Her voice was disappointed, and she sighed. "We know exactly what we can't do, but we haven't gotten an inkling on some stuff that we can do! That bothers me so much, ugh!"

"I know it does, Yuffie, but the thing is, we don't have any leads. We need a body. I don't think we can sacrifice anyone for the cause, and I don't think it would be appreciated for Sephiroth to be locked inside a random battle monster."

"Well, couldn't he just morph back into his original form from it?" Yuffie suggested. "It'd be kinda gross at first, but we could deal with it, right? It'd be kinda like how Vincent sometimes becomes Chaos! Yeah!"

"Yuffie..." Vincent started. "That would involve the help of Jenova, or else, then Sephiroth would only be able to return to his original form when he was extremely angered and hurt."

"Oh. Yeah... never mind then." Yuffie didn't know she was standing up, but she sat back down anyway. "I guess then, that it's time for another plan! Don't worry, we'll eventually narrow down any physically possibly scenarios so that there'd only be one."

"What if we used the planet?" Cid suggested. "We can use the mako energy in lieu to using Jenova's cells. Or, we can just manually change the monster's DNA to fit..." He shrugged. "I dunno, I'm not a scientist."

"Impossible, because you'd have to alter about a gazillion cells, and also because they'd procreate far faster than we could control. So unless you're saying we just chase a soul out of a human zygote and watch Sephiroth grow up... we'd need a surrogate mother, too..." Yuffie trailed off. "Sorry, I'm being pessimistic."

"Well, what about the conservation of matter? Sephiroth obviously existed, and therefore, he couldn't really have disappeared. At least, not physically. Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz were like, three parts of him, right? It had been Jenova who had to tie them all together... so all we need is to find where the body is," Tifa said.

"Yeah, and glue," Johnny added. "Besides, the body, if it still exists and hadn't disintegrated into the lifestream, has been dead for years. Last time I checked, no one but Jenova has ever been successful in resurrecting a truly dead body."

"Dammit," muttered Yuffie. "We're just going around in circles again! And all of them lead back to Jenova... who aside from being really, really dead, is also a real bitch! From now on, anyone who mentions her name... I'll kick your ass!"

With that, everyone fell silent. It was back to the drawing board for all of them, and that was rather annoying. "Well, if Sephiroth's body had been preserved by the lifestream before, do you think that it'll still be that way? Maybe Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz had evaporated like water, but do you think mako ever recycles itself?"

"Even if it did, that would mean that Sephiroth is now a blob of energy," Cid said. "And that is a whole lot of energy to choose from. Besides, it's probably all intermingled with each other already, so therefore, little bits of him are floating around all over the place. Ashes that are spread to different places cannot be rediscovered in whole."

"Unfortunately," Yuffie said, "Cid's right. There's no way we can just randomly find his body washed up in the lifestream. Maybe if we had like, a magnet to get all the ones that belonged to Sephiroth, and those only, and then some way to solidify that and alter it to reform his human body, it's useless."

"I think the only way that we can accomplish this is ter kill someone," Barrett said. "You want someone, you have to give someone else up. Someone alive. The only way is conversion."

Everyone stared at Barrett and he finally got the point. Of course, he tried to make it sound like he was just jesting with them, but it didn't blow over so well with everyone, especially when they had all been so serious.

"Cloud, do you have any ideas?" Yuffie asked. After all, this was all for him and he hadn't spoken for their entire meeting, and she was beginning to worry that he wasn't all that interested anymore. Or at least, outwardly. Then again, he hadn't really been outwardly interested from the start, but she knew it would break his heart if after all this time, it still didn't work.

"I... really don't know. In all these years that scientists have existed, no one's ever brought anyone back from the dead. Not even Hojo could boast that, and he was the closest to playing God as anyone had been." Cloud slightly looked off into the distance, which actually, was his nearest wall. He felt completely helpless that he couldn't come up with anything, or at least try to come up with something.

Yuffie looked disappointed once again. She had hoped that Cloud would miraculously have been thinking it over the whole time and would have come up with the greatest theory of all that no one would dare contest because it was so good, and foolproof. This, of course, was far from happening.

"Well, that's okay, Cloud. You keep thinking, and we'll keep thinking, and eventually we'll come up with something good! And if we don't come up with something good, at least we can come up with something tangible and possible, and then... then... We'll do it!"

"Thank you, Yuffie..." Cloud knew that by now, it was virtually impossible to convince her otherwise, so he decided to not even try. Besides, it would probably save him a lot of pain and suffering in the process.

"Well, what if we just sort of found his body?" Cid said. "Then we could... have it absorb his soul, but we'd need for it to be alive. Do you think we could reanimate it using Lucrecia's cells? There's no bond stronger than a mother and child. And then we can prove to him that Jenova wasn't his real mother," he said.

"I like that plan," Yuffie said. "But the problem isn't with Lucrecia, the problem is with the fact that we don't have a dead Sephiroth body to use anyway. Unless when Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz faded into the lifestream, that their bodies couldn't move on and collaborated back into being Sephiroth because they couldn't completely expel Jenova, and then... and then that's why Sephiroth's soul is floating in purgatory, because it can't move on, either!"

"Even if that were true, where would we find his body? You'd think that Sephiroth would have told us now if he did still have a body to use," Tifa said. "Anyway, I don't know... it's the closest thing we've had so far to an actual plan."

"You know, I think that he's had to have left something behind. Last time, I thought he was gone for good, but Kadaj just came out of nowhere... So no matter what, something of him _has_ to exist... right?" Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Yeah! Something of him has to still be here on The Planet somewhere... and even if it's not alive anymore, we'll find out a way to resurrect it! Finally, we're getting somewhere!"

"I think we should visit Lucrecia first," Vincent suggested. Cid tried very hard not to look jealous, but somewhere inside his head, he was still afraid that he might lose out to her. Even if she couldn't return her affections for Vincent, he was still in love with her, and Cid didn't want to be a third wheel. As much as he tried, it was obvious that Vincent could see the look in his eyes, and so he started playing with Cid's hair in hopes that his public display of affection would somewhat allay his concerns in a more subtle manner than if he were to say: "I'm not going to leave you for her, promise!"

The party moved along and all of them tried to get in the buggy that hadn't been used in ages. Johnny, however, decided to take a chocobo back home to take care of Marlene and Denzel. He said that he didn't need either Tifa or Barrett to come along, and that he'd be fine taking care of them himself.

Sooner than they had anticipated, they were already at the waterfall where Lucrecia had last been seen by them. Unsurprisingly enough, she was still there when they all walked in. "Hello Lucrecia," Yuffie said, in all seriousness. "Remember us?"

The last seven years had been kind to the old woman, who was by now at least sixty years old. She still looked like she was not a day over twenty-four, though. She looked up. "Yes... I do. It's been a long time."

Cloud walked up to her. "We... we sort of need to ask a favor of you. See, we need your body cells in order to go through with the process. And we'll need your DNA." He tried to make it seem like this wasn't just some giant joke.

"...What does Hojo want with me now?" she asked. "To make me more of a monster than I already am? Doesn't that man know when to let up?" She sighed and looked at the ground.

"It's not about Hojo... he's been dead for seven years... This is about your son, and if I could just get what we needed from Hojo, I wouldn't hesitate to. But it couldn't be that simple..." Cloud walked closer and looked down at her.

She looked back up, and he was reminded a little of an older Aeris. "My son? You've heard... you've heard from my son? Did he come with you? Do you know how he is?"

"That's the thing," Cloud started, kneeling down so they could be eye-to-eye. "He's been dead for the last five years, but... I want to bring him back, and I know I can, I just... we need your help to try and do it."

"I'll do anything," she said, "to see my son's face just once before I die. Yes, I will help you. He must have been a great man to have friends who want to revive him even five years after his death."

"Uh... yeah," Cloud replied. He decided that she didn't need to know the truth, because it would probably be less destructive to her mind. He really didn't want to give her a heart attack.

Lucrecia smiled at them, all of them. She even smiled at Vincent when she saw him. He nodded to her and seeing this, Cid reached out for Vincent's flesh wrist. At this, Lucrecia raised a brow, but she decided that it was better if she didn't ask.

"So, um... we should probably all head home before we start work. Shall we set the meeting for next week? We'll need a high-tech lab and... Oh god, I wish I had thought that far," Cloud said.

"Don't worry. We can all rent rooms in Kalm... I think we all want to start work as soon as possible," Yuffie said. "Besides, we can use Rufus's new one... we'd have to make an alliance with ShinRa again, but now they're not trying to kill the planet."

"How are we going to explain to Rufus why we need to use his labs?" Tifa asked. "As soon as we say why, he's going to laugh in our faces and think we've all gone off the deep end, just like you did at first."

"Yeah, but what Rufus don't know won't hurt him," Barrett said. "Anyway, he trusts and respects Cloud after what he's done... Rufus still thinks it's partially his fault that the planet almost died, so he'll be willing to let the people who saved it work in his facilities."

"I guess you're right," Tifa said. "Well then, we're all going to Cloud's, right? You all don't have to rent rooms. Actually, you can all stay at Seventh Heaven again. We've got enough room in the back for everyone! And it's closer to ShinRa so we can ask Rufus first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Ooh, another sleepover!" Yuffie exclaimed. "That'll be fun! Come on everyone, last one in the buggy's a rotten egg!" She took Lucrecia by the wrist. "Don't think that doesn't include you, Lucrecia!"

Cait Sith was the last one in the buggy, and of course, Nanaki had been the first. Things just all worked out for them that way. They had to squeeze the cat in, but he just sat on Nanaki's back after awhile of deciding.

It was dead into the night by the time they got to Seventh Heaven. Lucrecia, Vincent, Barrett and Tifa had already fallen asleep. They nearly all fell, one on top of the other, as the door opened. Nevertheless, the cold air woke everyone up and Tifa opened the door to a very tired and very surprised Johnny. "They're staying with us overnight," Tifa said. "It'll be good use of the house before the construction." She was talking about their plans to put Seventh Heaven and Johnny's heaven on either side of their residential area, so that their work would be close to both of them.

After about an hour, all of them were able to be accommodated for comfortably. It was rather impressive for the time they were given to prepare. Finally, Tifa finished fluffing the pillows for Cait Sith as she yawned and followed Johnny into their bedroom.

---

The next morning, it had taken them all a lot of effort to share two bathrooms. Of course, Tifa had been up early and so, by the time Vincent was done and drying his hair, breakfast was ready for all of them.

"So we're gonna go see Rufus about him letting us use his labs today, right?" Yuffie asked. "I'll go ask him when I'm done; I'm not really hungry." She quickly chugged down her orange juice. "There! I'll let you guys know when I'm done."

"I think we should go as a united front," suggested Lucrecia. "It would be better that way, because then if one of us doesn't know what to say, that we are backed up by the rest of the team."

"I like the way you think," Yuffie said. "All right then, I'll wait for you guys to finish, because if I start racing now, that would sort of be cheating, and I'd be way ahead of you all!"

"Yuffie, can we please not race all the way to the center of Midgar?" asked Tifa. "It's honorable that you're so hyped about this, but I doubt Rufus is going to take us seriously if we're all gasping for breath."

"Fine! But you know, I'm not getting any training done today and I didn't get any training done yesterday, and I'm totally blaming that all on you guys!" She picked up her shuriken and started running in place, passing it from hand to hand.

"There's no need to do any training, Yuffie," Cloud said. "After all, we've lived in a period of relative peace for five years now. There's nothing that can stand in the way of that changing."

"Yeah, well, just in case, I still have to train. Besides, I'm not like you! I don't have mako to keep my girlish figure even after five years of doing no physical labor. All I have are genes that say I'm gonna be fat if I don't work out every single day."

"Good luck with that," Tifa said. She took Yuffie's dish and cup and Red XIII's bowl to the kitchen to wash up. "Anyone else's stuff I can take? Oh, Lucrecia, you haven't eaten a thing... Do you not like my cooking? It's okay, you should've said so; I'll go buy you something..."

"No! No, it's not that I don't like your cooking. I just... I don't really have the need or want to eat." Lucrecia got up from her seat at the table. "It's quite nice, actually, to constantly be satiated." She looked to Vincent for an agreement, but he was too busy getting his hair brushed by Cid.

"Come on guys, this isn't rocket science!" Yuffie shouted. "Let's get a move on before we have to stop and eat lunch, too! Hop to it, hop to it!" Cait Sith was now jumping up and down with her. "Let's go!"

Yuffie practically pushed Cid's waffle down his throat. "Eat it, gramps! Come on, you're lagging us down! Come on, my real grandpa eats faster than you, and he's older than you! I don't even remember how old! I just know that he's way old!"

Cid choked on it, but bit off the part that was already in his mouth and ate it. In an effort to help, Vincent took the other half of the waffle and tore it in half, eating part and giving the other to Cid.

"That's more like it! Yeah, kudos to you, Vinny! Come on now, everyone, it's time to depart! That means you too, Johnny!" Just then, Marlene and Denzel stumbled downstairs to get ready for school.

"Good morning, everyone," Marlene started. She kissed Tifa on the cheek, and then she went to kiss Barrett on the cheek too. To her, they would always be her "real" parents. She grabbed a waffle and some bacon from the middle of the table. Because of Yuffie's hammering, both were still hot.

Denzel decided to skip breakfast. Instead, he had a protein bar and a glass of milk. He had gotten the height down pat; now all he needed was muscle. "Yo. I'm gonna go for a workout before school. Is that okay, Tifa?"

"Yeah, just make sure you don't skip again. This is very important to your mental development, you know. And anyway, you know I'm going to take away your game systems if you do! I'm serious this time, Denzel!" She put her hands on her hips in emphasis. "And start calling me mother."

"Fine, mother." He scarfed down the rest of his food, and he ran out on them. Meanwhile, Marlene started sorting out the things she wanted to put in her backpack. She grabbed her lunch and Denzel's as well, and then headed out the door with a smile and a wave.

"Aww, kids are so cute," Yuffie said. "I wish I could have kids someday. That'd be awesome. I'd teach them how to kick ass like I do!" she said, hopeful and determined. "But of course, any man would have to be crazy to marry me, because I'm Yuffie-chan!"

No one dared reply to this. Instead, they all got up and decided to head out the door to get to the ShinRa headquarters. At least they knew one way to get Yuffie's mind of kids and marriage. Besides, they weren't sure if she was joking about that men-having-to-be-crazy thing.

It was a long walk, and they got some stares from the civilians. Few of them knew who they were, even fewer who knew their names. Only one person actually had enough courage to walk up to them to talk in the whole journey over. Of course, that person had been an insane fan.

"Oh my god! It's really you guys! Wow, are you The Cloud Strife? You don't look like anything I'd imagined... I mean, I knew you were allegedly really girly, but... I mean, wow, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that. Wow, are you Tifa Lockhart? ...Damn! You're so much hotter in real life? Who's this guy?"

"...I would be her fiancé," Johnny said, holding up an embarrassed Tifa's hand for the obsessed fan to see. "You know, as in, we're going to be married? As in, don't tell her she looks hot?"

"Geez, man, chill. Oh wow! Cait Sith does exist! I always thought they made him up to make the whole thing sound more interesting! Wow... do you guys mind if I take a picture of you all? You guys are like, my idols!"

"...I'm sorry, but we've got someplace important to go off to," Cid said. "It's sort of a life or death situation." He thought for a minute, and decided it wasn't exactly a lie, so he wouldn't have to apologize later for it anyway.

"No, Cid, it's okay. We can stop for one photo," Cloud said. He put his arm around the kid and got a random passerby to take his camera phone to get a picture of all of them. It was hard getting them all to fit in one picture, especially since Nanaki and Cait Sith originally were too short to be in the cut.

As soon as they finished, Cloud took his camera phone back and asked the kid for his e-mail. He snapped his phone closed as he said that it was sent, and the kid went off joyfully, muttering nonsensical words of praise after them.

"Why did you have to be so nice? It was just some rabid fan... he wasn't even a very nice one. You know, we don't need rabid fans like him," Cid said. "You know, I think you've gone soft."

Cloud shrugged. "He kind of reminded me of me... I thought I could at least offer him something to remember us by. He seemed like a decent enough kid. Besides, what's he going to do? Sell it online?"

"You never know Cloud, he might," Yuffie said. "And then he really wouldn't be a fan of ours, but some freeloader. Man, what if you just got him his next paycheck? What if we find ourselves all over the tabloids?"

"We won't. He's in the picture. No one would buy it, especially not magazines. Remember, we're not all that popular anyway, and it's been five years. We're nothing special to them; we never really were," Cloud said.

"You're always so pessimistic about these subjects, Cloud," Yuffie said. "Actually, I lied. You're always so pessimistic about everything! Can't you for once learn to be like, nice and happy and optimistic? Look on the bright side for a change!"

"That all depends on if Rufus lets us use his labs," he said. With that, he started walking again to the ShinRa headquarters, and all of them followed after him. Soon, he was at the front door of ShinRa, and he walked right in.

"Stop! Civilians can't come here!" said a secretary, who ran in front of them to stop them. "I'll have to call security on you unless you have an appointment with President Rufus, which you don't, because I know he doesn't have an appointment today!"

Vincent stepped forward to take care of this one. "My name is Vincent Valentine, Turk. You can look up my file... I'm three-four-seven-nine-eight-b-four-x." He wasn't entirely sure why he still remembered his old ID. He assumed it was because he had been so proud when he got his Turk Identification card.

The secretary went to type it in, and she did find him. "Wait, but it says that you've been missing in action for the last thirty-seven years!" She looked at him with her mouth gaping. "You're not wearing your uniform, either!"

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'd fit into my Turk uniform from thirty-seven years ago. But obviously I'm not missing in action, and I have to report that to The President, if you don't mind."

"Fine," she said. But she was still wary. "Who are they, though? They can't all be Turks that were missing for thirty-seven years... and you can't be, either! Vincent Valentine must be your father or something, unless you haven't aged in thirty-seven years!"

"...That's a long story," he started, but he knew he couldn't go on with that for much longer. She had seen through his story, which was rather pathetic... But he had only underestimated her knowledge because in his time, the lady who had her position was a complete bucket of bolts.

However, miraculously, Rufus walked down into his lobby. He was just about to go out to have lunch. "Well, well, what brings you all here?" he asked. "If it's about mako, we're not doing that whole thing anymore..."

"Sir, don't mean to tell me that you actually know these people! One of them claims to be a Turk who's been missing in action for thirty-seven years and he hasn't aged a day since then!" She tried to sound calm, and failed miserably.

"...Yes, actually, I do know these people, and Valentine wasn't lying. Why didn't you tell me they were here? I don't pay you to stand around and accuse people of importance of lying! I want you to look each and every one of them in the eye, apologize, and memorize their faces for future references!"

"That won't be necessary," Cloud said. "We're just here to ask you if we can borrow one of your new labs to do a project we've been working on." He was collected and he sounded genuinely sangfroid.

"Oh, yes, of course. You who call yourself an ex-SOLDIER has nonetheless done much for the planet, if not ShinRa company." Rufus thought that maybe, just maybe, his generosity would have Cloud forgiving and maybe even lend a hand to help the reconstruction of ShinRa. "You may use any of my facilities... Would you like some scientists, too?"

"Oh, yes, that would be most helpful," Cloud said. He smiled to Rufus, and inwardly, Rufus smiled too. "Thank you very much for doing us such a big favor, Rufus," he added.

"It is not a problem. Martha, write and send out a memo that lab five is to be used by them for as long as they need, and no one else will be allowed to disturb them on penalty of probation. Also, send Professors Herald, Ren, and Erilew to help them."

The entire party was impressed with their good fortune, as Rufus directed them toward where they were supposed to go, and said he would accompany them, but that he was absolutely starved. Cloud only apologized on behalf of what a bad time they came at, and then they headed off to begin their work.


	10. Chapter 09

It was a rainy day when they found him. The clouds were dark and ominous as they cried cold tears down from the heavens. All along, he had been in the Nibelheim reactor, floating in the mako energy. The body was perfectly preserved, and perfectly dead. The smell had overwhelmed them all and Cloud had been the only one who could walk into the liquid.

His skin burned and his nostrils flared with the strong scent that did not seem to be too saturated to go away. It had been a hassle to get back up, especially since Cloud could barely lift the heavy corpse. It struck him as odd how immensely weighted it seemed, because all six parts of his swords together seemed to feel extremely manageable compared to Sephiroth.

Yuffie jumped up and down with cheer, then stopped and thought for a second. "Hey, guys...anou... I wonder how he got here," she commented. "I mean, wasn't he in Midgar the last time we saw him?"

"Yeah, but las time we saw 'him,' he was a bunch of green sparkles," Barrett said. "Mebbe they jes all gathered here." There was no real explanation, but the rest of them decided to celebrate instead of pressing for one. They had worked so hard, and yet their troubles were just beginning.

It was heartbreaking to tell Lucrecia that she would get burnt if she touched the mako that was everywhere on Sephiroth. But Vincent walked over and removed his cape, and Cloud wrapped it around the warrior (being secretively glad that Vincent was only one inch shorter than Sephiroth) and picked him up from the ground to take him to the labs.

They were very thankful for the rain as they ran outside, because none of the civilians would notice them carrying a dead corpse wrapped in nothing but a cloak all the way through town. Also, it somewhat alleviated the mako stench that they were going to have to clean off everyone's clothes and the buggy later.

"I wonder why he didn't tell us where he was," Yuffie started. "I mean, if his soul was with you the whole time, and he couldn't tell us he had a body somewhere, and we had to go through a lot of time scavenger-hunting and everything! You know, for someone who's getting their third chance at life, he's not very helpful in attaining it."

"Maybe... he didn't know," Cloud replied. He brushed hair out of Sephiroth's face and noticed how cold he was. Even without the rain, he could tell that Sephiroth's skin would be slightly bluer than it should, and his lips too purple. His hair, however messy from being damp, had not deteriorated or tangled in any way.

"He's not going to come back to life if you just stare at him," Vincent said. He was leaning against Cid, whose arms were around him to keep him warm. His eyes were distant and staring off into the horizon.

"I know," Cloud replied. "We still need Lucrecia's body cells and DNA to revive his old ones, and we need his soul to inhabit his body. But we will do it; we're so close..." Everyone tried to ignore the fact that Cloud was starting to sound obsessive and nervous.

Soon, they were at the front of the ShinRa building, and they filed in, all soaked to the bone and freezing. "What happened to you guys?" Martha asked. After a while, she had warmed up to them. "You all look like drowned rats! You should all go home and get dried and take showers..."

"No, we're only here to drop him off," Cloud said, referring to Sephiroth. "Please don't tell Rufus we have him here, all right?" He started walking towards the labs. "Then we'll go home and I'll be back here to begin working right after."

"No Cloud, we all will be," Tifa said. "We're just as anxious as you to finally get this whole ordeal over with. We've been with you through the whole thing, remember? We started it; we deserve to finish it."

"Yeah!" Yuffie said. "We'll just take showers here. Could you supply us with towels and run our clothes through the dryer? Actually, could you run them through the washer and then the dryer? Sorry, I know we smell really bad."

"It's no problem," Martha said. "I'm sure Rufus wouldn't mind. Shall I also send in Herald, Ren and Erilew? They'll be very glad, as they haven't been able to work since Rufus assigned them to only this project."

"Oh yes, that would be wonderful," Tifa said. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shiver, so Martha quickly apologized and directed them towards the showers. The women were allowed to use the staff bathroom, because there were less of them and because the guys didn't mind the SOLDIER showers too much.

They were all finished and they were all dry. Tifa had taken the longest trying to dry her hair, and in the end, it had taken Tifa, Yuffie, and Johnny, each armed with a blow dryer and a brush, to get her hair to its regular state.

Finally, they all got to the labs to find that Martha had ordered takeout for all of them. In fact, she remembered everyone's favorite dishes from their favorite local restaurants, too. Cid muttered under his breath that he wished Shera was more like Martha.

"Hello," Lucrecia said to one of the scientists. She looked at his name-tag and extended her hand. "Mr. Erilew, I'm Lucrecia. I'd like to say thank you in advance for helping us out.

"No problem. What is it that you would like us to do?" He asked. For a few months of just doing nothing, he was skeptical about the whole project and hoped that Rufus wasn't secretly just planning to fire him.

"Well, I've got the closest DNA to my son, so you'll need to help us take some of my live body cells to merge with his dead ones. That's really all you need to do; we'll take care of the rest," she said.

All three scientists were practically foaming at the lips. "Wow... such a big project as human restoration! We must be really good for Rufus to assign only us to such a project... it is an honor to serve you all," Erilew said.

"Well then, we've got the body, we've got the scientists, let's go extract the cells you'll be needing... is there a way that we don't have to take a sample from every major organ I have?" she asked. She would willingly give up half of her body though, if worse came to worse.

"Actually, yes. If we have a freshly fertilized human zygote, we can program the body cells which yet have not been assigned parts to be," Ren said. "It would be rather simple actually, but even if we are successful in reanimating the body, there would be nothing we could do about the soul..."

"We already took care of that," Yuffie said. "Like we've said, all you need to worry about is what we assigned you. But hey... how the hell are we gonna get a fertilized baby zygote thing? I mean, I know how it works, but... who's gonna be the father? Hojo's dead..."

"I'll be his father," Vincent said. After all, there was still the possibility that he was Sephiroth's actual father. Cid shot him a dirty look. "As long as there is no intercourse involved."

"Of course not. It will be like a surrogate pregnancy. A healthy sperm is selected to fertilize the egg, and then there is a electric shock that tells the zygote to begin life," Herald said. "Very simple procedure, of course."

Everyone, it seemed, was overjoyed at this. Well, maybe it was just everyone trying to conceal their feelings about the look on Cid's face. "Come on Vincent, let's go get them that sperm sample they need," he said, grabbing an empty container and taking Vincent by the wrist into another room.

Erilew tried not to laugh. "Well, that's taken care of. But since sperm can only survive in semen for seventy-two hours, we're going to need to take an egg from your ovaries now, ma'am."

"Not a problem," Lucrecia said. "But I'd feel safer if a doctor was performing the procedure. No offense. I just... have had bad experiences in the past with incompetent scientists."

"No, it's okay. I'm trained for these matters. In fact, it's what I did before I became a scientist," he said. Lucrecia smiled and looked relieved. She linked arms with the scientist then. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go bring back my son."

The others turned their attention to Sephiroth, who had been cleaned and dried off. "I... don't particularly think that he would've liked his resurrection to be attributed to science once again... unfortunately, that's inevitable," Cloud said. "I hope that things work out just as planned."

"Yeah," Yuffie said, starting on Vincent's neglected grilled chicken. "I really hope so too, Cloud. Man, I think it's been kinda nice, having something to work on with you guys. I'm gonna miss those late-night sessions."

"I'm going to miss you all living at my house," Tifa said. "It'll be so empty... there will be no one to clean up after... No hair to clean out of the drain, no dirty laundry to clean, no milk left out on the counter to toss... No stains on the carpet..."

"Man, I thought you'd be happy about that," Barrett said. "Us bein' outta your hair 'n all. I always knew you were a crazy one," he added. He finished his burger and shake and got up. "Anyone got any trash?"

Like always, Yuffie was the first to dump trash into the offerer's hands. "Thanks Barrett-chan! Oh, and when you go to the trash place, could you pick me up some coffee from the Turk's lounge? Thank you!"

Barrett rolled his eyes as he stepped out, grabbing Cloud's trash along the way as well. He decided to ignore Yuffie's: "And make sure there's a lot of sugar in it and it's cream, not milk!" that was shouted after him.

"So, you must be excited," Johnny said. "After all, the person you love is going to come back from the dead... After all this time. If it were me, I would have been too happy to focus..."

"Don't be so negative, Johnny!" Tifa yelled. "Now Cloud's going to be all unfocused and thinking too far ahead for his own good and Yuffie's going to get all angry and we'll all fail!"

Cloud found Tifa's hysterics rather amusing. "It's all right... I know that I have a goal. And I know that I must reach that goal before thinking of anything else. I'm determined to achieve it, and nothing can stand in that way now that I've gotten this far."

"Oh, good," she said. "I wasn't worried, really. I knew that all along," she added. The she gave Johnny a quick kiss. "I never doubted you for a second, really!" Her apology was naturally accepted. Her alibi, however...

Barrett returned with Yuffie's coffee and she hugged him and thanked him. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he replied roughly. Cid walked out with Vincent behind him, and he had the biggest smile on his face as he held up the container for everyone to see.

Immediately, Barrett turned his head. "I don't need to see that!" Yuffie clapped and went to go get a scientist, Tifa and Cloud just looked on nervously while Johnny excused himself from the room.

Ren put on a pair of latex gloves and took the container before walking into the back room where Erilew and Lucrecia were. Herald followed after him, taking a small glass dish with him.

The party waited outside anxiously for a few minutes until all four walked out and announced that there were cells waiting to become different parts of Sephiroth. The three scientists dismissed the rest of them, saying that when they were finished, all of them would be alerted.

---

It was only two days when the scientists called them all back. "It's been a success," Ren said. "We've been able to make his cells living... however, without a soul, he is in a comatose like state.

"That's fine," Cloud said. "After his soul repossesses his body, he will be able to live like he did before." He walked over and placed his hand in Sephiroth's. "I thought that, because he might be in this state, that his body wouldn't be able to properly attach his soul. Zack said that it'd probably work better if I was the bridge..."

"All right Cloud, you do whatever you need to," Tifa said. "Whatever happens, happens. We're behind you one hundred percent!" she exclaimed. Cait Sith joined her by cheering along.

He sat down and put all his concentration into it, and could feel the attachment. He couldn't have let go if he wanted; the bond was too strong. He knew it would take awhile because he could feel only bits and pieces as opposed to the entire being. He knew it was better that way, but he couldn't help feeling anxious with anticipation.

What were only minutes later, he let go and waited. Yes, there was a heartbeat. Yes, he was beginning to think... But he wasn't waking up. Cloud's eyes widened and grew worried that nothing was changing.

Everybody looked disappointed. Even Nanaki changed from his usually stoic and deadpan expression. "Sorry, Cloud," Yuffie said as she patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe... maybe he'll wake up later? It's just sort of a coma, right?"

"Yeah... that's it... he'll wake up from his coma, right?" Cloud tried to smile. "At least he's alive... that's all that matters. We've done the hard part, now we just have to wait..."

It was in the middle of the night when they had called, but all of them, wearing their pajamas and robes, had come anyway. With that, they all started to leave. "Come on, Cloud, he'll still be there in the morning, and might even wake up!"

"No... you guys, you can go on ahead. I'll stay here with him," Cloud said. He stroked Sephiroth's hair possessively. "Just in case he wakes up during the night... I don't want something bad to happen in that time."

"Whatever you say," Tifa replied halfheartedly. She was too tired to really be listening; she had stayed up late doing her wedding plans and hadn't gotten a chance to get to bed until a few hours previously, only to be waken up again.

With that, they all left Cloud to be with Sephiroth for the night, no one even giving a second thought... But then Cloud wanted to stay with Sephiroth for the next day, and soon that turned into the next week. He wouldn't allow his friends to take shifts for him, either.

"Cloud, this is insane and unhealthy!" Tifa said. "I want you to stop this madness! I'm sure he'll be fine when he wakes up! And even if he isn't, we can look after him for you! You're going to be dead-tired when you see him, anyway!"

"But, I want to be the first to see him," he answered. "I want to be the first one to witness him opening his eyes. If you were doing this for someone you truly loved, you'd act the same way."

"Cloud, but you're being too obsessive! Don't you want to rest up? Maybe Sephiroth's thinking that he wants to wake up for you when you're ready. Remember, his soul was with you..." She tried. Thankfully, it worked.

He nodded. "You may be right," he said. Giving Sephiroth's hand one last squeeze, he got up from the chair that he had been sitting on. "I... I just need a good night's sleep, and a shower," he said. "Then I can be back, okay?"

"Deal," she said. "Come on, let's go." She took him by the wrist and led him to the bottom floor of the ShinRa building. There weren't any windows in headquarters because it had been modeled after the previous one, and Cloud's eyes did not take well to adjusting to the light contrast.

As soon as he got to his room in Seventh Heaven, he crashed on his bed and Tifa went upstairs to go to hers. It was a little early for bed, but it had already been dark for a long time, and she thought it would be good for everyone to sleep in.

Since the week had past, everyone had returned to their own homes except Lucrecia, who was determined to see her son alive again. She was not quite as obsessive as Cloud was, however. She only visited periodically, and also to bring Cloud his meals.

She sat in the living room, and she was looking at nothing in particular, lost in thought. At first, they had run into some troubles because Tifa kept calling Lucrecia Aeris, but that stopped after awhile. Lucrecia smiled a little in remembering this. She also remembered Tifa's many apologies. No one else had much of a problem remembering that she wasn't Aeris though, but she often wondered why just Tifa did. Of course, they had probably been close like sisters from the journey, having been the only girls until Yuffie came along.

She closed her eyelids over the eyes her son had inherited from her. She didn't even know that... she had never seen the color of his eyes. She wondered why his hair was silver for a moment, but she knew it was him anyway. His hair was naturally like hers, and he had her mouth.

Deciding it was useless until he awoke, she got up to go to her bed as well. She looked at the clock that hung in the kitchen. It was only eight, but the entire house was dark and deathly quiet.

When Cloud awoke, the sun outside was shining brightly into his room. He thought that, because of the time, it was already pretty late, so he quickly bolted out of bed and into the bathroom. He knew he was late because there was no sign of Marlene or Denzel, which means that they had already left for school.

Rather upset at this, he jumped into the cold shower. The plastic comb he had taken from the sink was blue and nearly toothless by the time he was finished pulling it through the tangles that he hadn't bothered fixing for a week. He figured that he would just explain his hurry to Tifa later and reimburse her for the comb. He didn't really care how much his skull tingled with pain.

The shower walls were covered in steam. He didn't turn the water down at all, and actually wondered if it could go any hotter. Nevertheless, he grabbed the soap and started scraping away at his body. Even though he hadn't done anything for a week, he seemed to be caked in something. And he had the sterilized smell of laboratory all around him.

Then he smelled like flowers and fruit, but he didn't mind. It was better to smell strongly of a girly soap then to smell like an insane asylum. His skin was scrubbed red and raw, if not from that then from the heat, before he was satisfied.

He put a giant glob of shampoo in his hands. Without that much, he never had enough to properly clean his hair. For a cut that looked rather short, it was very long when wet. At least, he thought it was. He realized that he picked up Marlene's shampoo, because he smelled like strawberry bubblegum and honey.

Still, he practically kneaded it into his skull until he looked like he had a white afro of bubbles before he rinsed it out and watched it all slide down the drain. He seemed to enjoy the little white foamy suds dance down and down.

He argued with himself for a minute or two on whether or not he should apply conditioner, and whether that would take too long. Then he thought he was being completely silly because his arguing with himself about it was taking longer than if he had just used it. So he did.

And realized he had made a mistake because he couldn't wait the minute to rinse it all out. But he had to; and he thought of it as a challenge to his willpower. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot in the shower as he waited impatiently.

"Count to ten," he remembered Mukki saying. If he had said to count to sixty, Cloud would have skipped more numbers than there were even to begin with. But those were for entirely different purposes, and he couldn't... he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't let himself just rinse it all out and jump out of the shower and blow-dry... He still had to blow dry his hair after all was cleaned.

"No," he told himself firmly. He had to prove to himself that he could do it. It was only sixty seconds... only sixty seconds and another three to dry his hair and another one to get dressed and five, if he ran fast enough, to get to the ShinRa building, one to get all the way to the top and open up the door...

He could manage that, right? Fifty-nine, sixty! He stuck his head under the pouring water and nearly pulled out all his hair trying to rinse it out. Then he jumped out and grabbed a towel from the closet, wrapping it around himself and getting the hair-dryer. Three minutes went by so slowly.

It was dry... most of it was dry. The ends were still damp, but he decided against staying any longer and bolted out the door to the ShinRa building. Down the street, towards the left, then a right, five blocks down, make a turn... Martha barely saw him as he sped past her and up the elevator.

When he walked through the doors, he could see the back of Lucrecia's head. She was wearing pink that day, and immediately he thought of Aeris. But he pushed that thought out of his head in remembrance that she was dead and her soul _wasn't_ floating around purgatory, so no matter what, she wasn't coming back.

Neither was Zack. But still, he could feel both their spirits faintly. They were always with him, and sometimes he took it for granted that they were there to help him through everything. Sometimes he forgot that they were even there, because he had grown so accustomed to their presences.

"Good morning, Cloud," Lucrecia said as she got up. "Your breakfast is cold; I'm sorry. He hasn't shown any signs of waking up... but I think there's some increase in activity that's going on with his brain... or something. I used to know all this terminology to describe it... It's funny how much you forget in old age."

"I don't mind it cold, and you're not old." He smiled at her. "Thank you for watching over him... I know I don't even know you that well, but I think that if he woke up and anyone was to see him before me, I'd want it to be you."

"Thank you Cloud... coming from you, that means a lot to me," she said. "I know I haven't been a good mother... I didn't even know what my child looked like... But I, I'm just happy that it's not too late for me to be a part of his life."

"It's never too late to step into your child's life... As long as you don't leave him again, I'm sure he'll appreciate your presence. You know, when he thought Jenova was his mother, he literally wanted to give her the world. I'm sure he will feel just as strongly about you."

"Thank you... I don't think it will be that way... I know that Hojo would have told him that Jenova was his mother all his life, and not me... So he already thought that Jenova was his mother all the time... I don't exactly have that advantage."

"No... but you're not a blue alien who manipulates people and uses her son to try and destroy an entire race," he replied. "So you have some advantage... And we like you far better than we liked Jenova."

Lucrecia laughed. "Yes, I really should hope so," she said. "But it's okay with me if he never accepts me as his mother, because I finally can accept him as my son... And as long as I can, I won't hate myself as much anymore. I just hope he can forgive me..."

"I'm sure he will. It's always easier to forgive other people than to forgive yourself, so if you forgive yourself, I'm sure he will, too. Besides, when he wakes up, he will be the Sephiroth I've always admired."

"He is lucky to have someone to love him as much as you do. Though, I'd always hoped I'd have grandchildren... But I think just happiness is enough for this lifetime. I'm sure that no one could love him like you do, anyway."

"You have no idea," Cloud replied.

"Actually, I know the whole story," she said. "I... I had everyone tell me. I had to; I'm sorry. I know that some of what he's done is not something that a mother should agree with, and I don't... But that doesn't change the fact that he is my son, and no matter what he is like, I will love him."

"Spoken like a true mother," he said, smiling. "And I apologize if you ever thought we were to deceive you into giving yourself to science again before we could tell you about Sephiroth's past," he said.

"No, I don't blame you. Besides, I have made peace with it and know that it was all Jenova's doing that drove him to madness... Hers and Hojo's. I just wish I had been in his life then to stop him. But what's done is done, I suppose... There's no going back now."

"You're taking this very well... Better than all of us had, at least. You're not mad at me that I was the one who killed him?" Cloud walked over and was prepared to make any explanation he needed to back himself up.

"No, not at all. It was perhaps the only way... Even if you did kill him, even if you did wait five years to revive him, you're still here... And I know that your love isn't something that just will flicker and fade with time. I feel safe entrusting my son with you when he wakes up."

"Thank you, Lucrecia," Cloud replied. He was very glad with how level-headed Lucrecia was the whole time, kind of wishing that his mother had been like that... before she died, anyway. And he was sure that if she found out he was reviving her killer, she'd scold him... But he also knew in the pit of his heart that she would be genuinely happy for him afterwards.

"You haven't touched your food yet, Cloud," Lucrecia commented. She picked up the plate and got up with it. "I'll go to the lounge and heat it up for you, okay? It's freezing cold..."

"Oh no, that's really not necessary," he said. He took the plate from her and scarfed it down. "See? Nothing wrong with it. Thank you, that was a great meal," he added. She giggled at how fast he had eaten. Her laugh had been youthful, and for a second, her eyes had been, too.

Cloud rushed out to go take the dish away, and also Lucrecia's from earlier that morning that was still sitting there. He ran all the way to the Turk's lounge, which he noted, was in the exact same spot as it had been before, but he was sure that was because it had been in a very convenient part of the building and Reno would not have had it any other way.

When he got back in the room, it seemed that something had went horribly wrong because all three scientists were crowded around a large computer and Lucrecia looked worried. "What's wrong!" he asked, as he rushed over.

"It seems that his brain is deteriorating," said Ren. "He's consciously deleting parts of his mind... I think all of them are memories." He looked back as Erilew confirmed that everything that had been deleted were memories.

"Why would he want to delete all his memories?" Cloud asked. Ren shrugged. "Why... why would he do that! It just... it just doesn't make any sense!" He didn't hear Lucrecia trying to get him to calm down. "After all this work, and he wants to erase everything... I don't want him to erase everything! I don't want him to wake up confused... I don't want him to do to himself what he had done to me!"

"No, I think he's stopped," Herald said. "And I don't think any of those memories were very important... maybe they were just the painful ones," he said. "But I think that he did take away a good bit of memories... and he definitely did it by himself, too... there is no way an outside host could do such a clean job."

"Why is this what he wants!" Cloud asked. "Why does he want to erase anything? What is he thinking!" He walked over to Sephiroth and stared down at his face. "What are you erasing? Please, please just wake up and remember..."

There was silence. Nothing.

Cloud fell to his knees, hand still clutching Sephiroth's. "I can't believe... you wanted to forget... and you can... and you still can't wake up. Why do you get to forget your guilt? Why can't I? Please..."

Still nothing. Cloud sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... erase what you want, just please... please don't forget me... Wake up, please... please..." He waited, and he thought he felt Sephiroth's hand twitch. "Yes, please... please wake up."

Finally, as if on the command, Sephiroth's eyes fluttered open. "C...Cloud? Where am I?" Sephiroth reached for his head with his other hand and sat up. "Ugh, I feel awful... is this lab new?" He looked over to Cloud before waiting for an answer. "Cloud, what are you wearing? Is Zack okay?"

"...What? Sephiroth... Zack's been..." Cloud looked at Sephiroth in confusion. "How... How old do you think you are?" Cloud asked as he looked into those mako green eyes.

"...Cloud, don't be silly. I'm twenty-three, I don't remember how old you said you were, but I think fourteen, and Zack... I'm pretty sure he just turned sixteen... Yeah, he just turned sixteen."

Cloud looked at him, and there was a little bit of silence. "You've _got_ to be kidding me."


	11. Chapter 10

"Cloud? What's going on?" Sephiroth got up, and he felt a sort of rushing feeling. "Where am I?" He looked around at his surroundings, confused as hell. "...Exactly how long have I been asleep for?"

Cloud hadn't been listening to Sephiroth rambling and thought for a second. "...Fourteen... years..." he mumbled. "He erased fourteen years..." Cloud then looked up and turned his attention back to Sephiroth. "Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

"We were outside of the club... The one Zack dragged us to, and then... someone attacked me... I don't know. It was dark and I was drunk," he said. "What happened? Feels like I've been knocked out cold for a week."

Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but then he realized that if Sephiroth didn't want himself to remember, there had to have been a reason... So he decided to make something up. "Zack was drunk and I was defenseless so... That guy like, stabbed you. Yeah, he stabbed you! And then you died... and Rufus, I mean, The President, got all shirty and set up these labs to... preserve you until we could bring you back."

"Oh? Is that so? Well, that's not so bad. At least I know I still have my job... how long have I been dead for? It must have been awhile... looks like you definitely grew up some. How old are you now? Twenty? Nineteen?"

"...Twenty-eight." For the large mistake in guessing his age, Cloud ignored the look of absolute shock on Sephiroth's face. "And within that time, ShinRa has been destroyed and rebuilt. Old man Shinra bit the bullet, and Zack's been dead for seven years." At least most of what he was saying was the truth.

Lucrecia looked at Cloud and raised an eyebrow, but she decided to go along with his plan. It seemed for the first time that Sephiroth had even noticed her. "And who may you be?" he asked her.

"I would be your mother," Lucrecia said as she smiled. It was unmistakable; he had her eyes. Bright jade hidden under layers and layers of mako, but the pigment was still there.

"...Jenova?" Lucrecia tried to explain to herself the situation and not to get angry that he would mistake her for Jenova. She inhaled deeply to calm herself, but Cloud took over for her anyway.

"No, Professor Hojo lied to you. Your mother was not Jenova, but instead Lucrecia. He never wanted you to know, because that would have involved him admitting that he could have been your father."

Sephiroth looked down. "Oh." Then he realized that he was clothed in nothing but a cloth. "Where are my clothes?" he asked. He tried to scavenge the room with his eyes, but couldn't find them.

"They... they've been detonated. You know, that's why ShinRa went down in the first place. The rebel group AVALANCHE, they blew up some reactors and then they set a bomb in the ShinRa building and by the time we realized it, it was too late to save anything but the people inside."

"And... Masamune?" Cloud look down and shook his head. "Well then, I'm going to find these AVALANCHE bastards, and I'm going to kill them and make them wish they'd never been born!"

"Don't," Cloud said. "They've made peace. ShinRa realized that draining the planet of mako energy was actually destroying it, and that AVALANCHE was right all along. We run on oil now."

"Is that how Zack died?" Sephiroth asked. "Was he in the building while it blew up? It seems like something he'd do... try to save everyone and everything at no concern for his own safety."

"Actually... Hojo took Zack and I to Nibelheim for experimenting on... After five years, Zack decided that we should run away... but I was useless... But you were right; he died a tragic hero. Hojo sent the Turks after us... and they were going to shoot me...but... Zack threw himself in front," he finished. He wasn't going to lie to Sephiroth about his best friend's death.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't have been there to stop the situation... I'll go get Hojo, and I'll kill him... How dare he involve you two in his twisted agenda! I'll... Cloud, why are you laughing?"

"You're seven years too late for that as well," Cloud said. "But you'll be glad to know that I was strong enough to be the one to do it. I never made it into SOLDIER, but I did become the strongest warrior left living."

"I really have missed a lot, haven't I?" Sephiroth laughed to calm his nerves. Cloud couldn't tell if it worked or not, but he thought it would be rude to ask, so he kept it to himself.

"...Sephiroth, I'm going to go make a call, and then we can go home, okay?" He got up and walked out of the room. Immediately, he leaned against the wall and dialed Tifa's number.

"Cloud... is that you? You never call... is something wrong? Did Sephiroth wake up? How is he? Do you need help? Cloud, are you okay?" It was so characteristic of Tifa to not even let Cloud speak for himself.

"He did... but Tifa... He erased his memories. Fourteen years of them... The last thing he remembers is the first night I met him. It was my first day at SOLDIER, and Zack took us out and some guy like, hit him over the head..."

"...He remembers nothing! He doesn't remember Nibelheim, or Meteor, or... nothing? Are you sure?" Tifa was bewildered on the other side of the phone, but luckily Johnny wasn't around to ask her what went wrong.

"The last thing he remembers involves him being twenty-three. But... apparently he consciously erased his memories before he woke up... so he's got a reason for wanting to forget all those things..."

"Yeah, I'd want to forget I was a psychopath murderer, too."

He decided to be a bigger person and ignore that comment. "Anyway, so I... sort of... made up a lot of stuff. I just kind of replayed history, but without him in it... So could you... please tell the others to play along?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Anything... Are you sure you're okay with this, Cloud? I mean, don't you want to tell him the life he's living is a lie and he can't escape from what he did?"

"...No, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Thank you for understanding," he said as he hung up. When he walked back in, he was glad to find that Lucrecia and Sephiroth were getting along quite well. "Come on, let's go home," Cloud said. "Would you like me to drop you off at Tifa's, Lucrecia?"

"If it's not too much trouble, thank you. I think that you two should have some time alone to catch up." She smiled warmly. "Then we can catch up after thirty-seven years of lost time."

It was a surprisingly quiet trip back to Tifa's house, and Lucrecia got out and waved goodbye to them. She hoped that Tifa wouldn't be too mad that Cloud just upped and left her place without even saying goodbye.

The drive back to Cloud's house was short, and Cloud felt like he'd never been more relieved to come home. "Hey, I hope you know that you're gonna have to get a new job... Oh, and I'm gonna have to call Rufus, aren't I?" He walked into his kitchen. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Oh, no, thank you," came the reply. Sephiroth seemed to have become enthralled in the patterns on Cloud's coffee table. "So... what have you been up to in the last fourteen years?"

"Nothing much... you know, just the same things. A lot of my friends were involved in bringing you back, you know. And you know what else? They're all in AVALANCHE, too. I was their leader at one point, actually..."

"Oh... Well, I'll have to make sure to thank them later, then. And Cloud? Thank you... I know it sounds kind of forced, but I mean it. I would never have asked you to devote fourteen years of your life to try and resurrect me."

"I know, but... I felt like it was something I had to do," he said. And as he said that, he realized that... even if Yuffie had never kept pushing it, he still would have spent fourteen years trying to revive Sephiroth. "Hey, I'm gonna go out and buy you something to wear aside from that cloth, all right? You just stay here, and help yourself to anything."

Cloud left his house to get on Fenrir and drive to Kalm. He was going to have a lot of trouble finding something that would button up over Sephiroth's shoulders and chest though... It was why he always kept his coat unbuttoned at the top, and he didn't think he would be able to get something custom-made that quickly.

He walked in the store and picked out a big t-shirt, the longest pair of pants they had, a long coat, and a pair of multi-purpose boots. None of it matched, but at least Sephiroth would be able to go out in public and pick out something he actually wouldn't mind wearing.

Cloud paid for them, and then he got a box of chocolate-covered raisins because he had remembered Zack saying once that Sephiroth liked those, and Zack thought they were absolutely disgusting.

On the road home, he wondered if he should ever tell Sephiroth the truth... After all, Cloud had never wanted to live his life as a lie, and even if Sephiroth wanted to... deep inside, he knew it would be the right thing to tell him eventually. But Cloud decided that for the time being, he would keep his mouth shut, because Sephiroth was happy just how he was. He would need time to adjust, and springing something that harsh on him was just... cruel.

Cloud got off Fenrir and he immediately realized something had gone drastically wrong. He walked inside to find that there were papers strewn all over the floor. He picked one up, and to his horror, it was an article about Sephiroth that he had cut out while in SOLDIER.

Even more to his horror, he found that all of the articles that had been thrown on the floor were about Sephiroth. Some of them were from before Cloud joined SOLDIER, but the majority of them... were from after that. He found a report on Nibelheim, and he dropped everything, running into his bedroom.

Sephiroth was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands, and he looked like he was about to break. Cloud knelt down and tried to lift Sephiroth's arms away. "Are you okay?" he asked. Sephiroth wouldn't look up at him.

"I wasn't supposed to remember... I wasn't ever supposed to remember... Cloud, I thought that if I truly forgot, and you went along with it, then everyone would forget... I want for everyone to just forget," he said.

"I can never forget what you did," Cloud said. "But I've forgiven you... We all have, Sephiroth... Please just forgive yourself. If I can forgive myself, why can't you learn to forgive yourself as well?"

"I was supposed to be a hero... I was supposed to be strong, not gullible, weak... dishonorable..." He could've gone on listing insults for himself forever, but Cloud took him by the shoulders in attempt to stop him.

"Sephiroth, get a hold of yourself. You know you've made mistakes, but that's not important. What's important is that you learn to move on from them. You can't fix them... but you can just learn to move on. Please?"

"I don't think I have that option," he replied.

"So you think that living the rest of yourself in a lie... in exile from yourself... is really a better alternative than realizing what you've done and moving on from it?" He hoped and prayed that Sephiroth wasn't going to say: "Actually, I'd rather it be that way," but apparently he didn't know Sephiroth quite as well as he thought he did anyway.

"No... it's... Never mind. I'll try..." He looked at Cloud and tried to smile. "Thank you," he added.

"It's not a problem," Cloud said, getting up. "Now let's go get you dressed."

Sephiroth reached out a hand to stop him. Cloud turned around, prepared to ask Sephiroth what the hell was wrong now, but before a word could escape from his parted lips, he was kissed.

When they broke away, Cloud took a second to realize that they had. "Uh, yeah... I think you should stay naked for a little longer," he said. He couldn't help but smile as Sephiroth grinned at him.

---

The next day, Cloud found himself at Tifa's doorstop. He had a bouquet of flowers in his hand, and Sephiroth had a novel for Marlene and a pair of sunglasses for Denzel. They looked exactly like Cloud's, so they knew he would like them.

Yuffie opened the door and welcomed them both in with open arms. "Holy shit you're taller than I remember you!" she said to Sephiroth. "Or did you just put your hair up more than usual?"

"Last time I saw you, I don't think I remember you being this interrogative," he said. "Or quite as happy to see me," he added. She pouted with a huff and as he walked in, she mouthed "jerk!" after him.

"Thank you for throwing this party, Tifa," Cloud said. "It really means a lot."

"Yes, well, we wanted to see him," Tifa said. "All flesh and blood and everything... Looks like a job well done!" she commented happily. "I'm going to go check on the potatoes, okay?"

"Oh, Sephiroth!" Cloud dragged him over to Vincent. "This is Vincent Valentine, who's sort of like, your father now. So, now you have two parents," Cloud said. "That's something you wanted, right?"

"I suppose so," Sephiroth replied. "It's nice to see you again, Valentine." He wouldn't call Vincent father... he couldn't call Vincent father, because that term was never before used by him. Even mother had sufficed, but father was just too awkward.

The music started playing, and Yuffie grabbed Nanaki and took his paws up to dance with him. "Come on Nanaki, it's fun!" She giggled while dancing with him, as he had a hard time trying to keep up with her pace.

Barrett was busy trying to set up the Dance Dance Revolution set for Marlene and Denzel, and was failing miserably. Marlene giggled as she switched some of his wires for him, and he was completely flabbergasted when he saw that it worked for her but not for him.

Cait Sith was helping Johnny clean up their house. After all, most of the guests had come early and hadn't given Tifa time. She decided to yell at Marlene and Denzel later for not doing their chores, instead of in front of company.

Meanwhile, Lucrecia was in the kitchen helping Tifa to finish putting all the snacks in bowls and such. She walked out and dodged Nanaki, who was trying to get as far away from Yuffie as possible. This only resulted in Lucrecia having to step back to let Yuffie through, as well.

The party was considered to be a rather successful one, and as the guests started leaving, they were all happy and drunk, or on the verge of it. It was much too late into the night as Tifa waved goodbye to Sephiroth and Cloud and turned her back on them, yawning.

It wasn't a particularly long walk for neither Sephiroth nor Cloud back to his house from Seventh Heaven. The cold night air wavered past them. "Cloud... the happiness you were looking for, did you find it in me?"

Cloud stopped looking at the moon ahead and closed his eyes as the breeze brushed past again, but when he opened them again, he felt as if it was warmer than it had felt previously. "...Always."


	12. Epilogue

It was a lovely night, although it was raining heavily outside. Cloud walked into the small bedroom of his new house and tucked the little boy into his bed. It had seemed to be a miracle, actually, that there was a silver-haired orphaned infant that they had found. It had been raining that day, as well.

"Daddy?" The little boy yawned and looked up at Cloud. "Can you read me a story before I have to go to sleep? Pleease?" He put on his biggest smile, which melted away into another yawn.

"Fine, but you have to go to sleep right after. You have to get up really early tomorrow morning to go to preschool, okay?" The little boy nodded in acceptance as Cloud reached towards the little bookshelf.

"No, not that one! Daddy, I want you to read me the story. The one about father."

"But I've read that one to you so many times," Cloud said. Nevertheless, he took out the folder-- the same one that had been revived from his youth-- and took out the first article. He began to read it, and before he was halfway done, the little boy had already fallen asleep.

Cloud placed it carefully back in the folder, trying not to crease the paper or anything. He placed it back on the shelf and flicked off the light switch. "Sweet dreams," he whispered, closing the door, as he retired into his own bedroom.

"Why do you still read to him at night?" Sephiroth asked. "You know he can do it by himself... He's a very intelligent little boy. I don't think that we could have ever hoped for a better son."

"No... And I know he can read it himself, but he likes it when I read to him. I think it's because I narrate in the perfect voice... monotone, so he can decide what parts are most important to him, not me." Cloud crawled into his blankets as strong arms wrapped around him. "You know, I think he's more like us than we know."

"Yes, I do find that I notice things about myself watching him, sometimes." He wiggled into a position he was more comfortable in. "Do you ever think that maybe, we really are his parents?"

"Hn, I hadn't really thought of that. I guess then, that there is someone divine in heaven... but whoever it is, they're giving us more than we deserve, really," Cloud said with a sigh to himself.

"No," Sephiroth said. "He is everything we deserve... A happy ending."


End file.
